


Scratching off the Veneer

by Blue (SocksandFluff)



Series: Acquisition of the Unconventional [3]
Category: Guardians of the Galaxy (Movies), Guardians of the Galaxy - All Media Types
Genre: Angst, Blood, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Eventual friends, Gen, Guilty Yondu, Hurt No Comfort, Hurt/Comfort, Kraglin's Origin, M/M, Misunderstandings, Origin Story, Pre-Movie(s), Pre-Relationship, Terrible Past, Violence, Whump, Yondu is an asshole
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-06-06
Updated: 2017-06-29
Packaged: 2018-11-09 22:43:03
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 8
Words: 21,881
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11114421
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/SocksandFluff/pseuds/Blue
Summary: This is the story of how Kraglin Obfonteri - a strangely quiet and cold young man - eventually became a part of Yondu Udonta's crew, his right-hand man, and most loyal crew-mate.This also the story of how it almost never happened at all.  The story about how Kraglin's mask fell, and how Yondu almost cost himself one of the best things to happen to him.





	1. First Meetings

**Author's Note:**

> Here it is! The origin story to Kraglin!
> 
> This can be read as a stand-alone fic as a prequel to the movies, or as as a part of the AU in this series of works it is in.
> 
> Can be read as pre-relationship or not~

It was in the middle of a busy market-street where Yondu Udonta first met his first-mate; and he was ashamed to admit that he had been more than unhappy at their first meeting.

Kraglin would tell Yondu that he didn’t care, that it wasn’t important - that everything was fine _now_. But it was a kind of guilt that curtained over Yondu sometimes when he looked at his first-mate, sometimes wishing he could repeat their first-meeting so he wasn’t _as much_ of an asshole as he had been.

And especially change how he treated him afterwards...

Kraglin had been nothing but loyal and steadfast, and Yondu seriously didn’t understand why the man had stuck with him - after all that he had done to him, how he treated him, and even after the _exile_ Kraglin remained at his side...

But at the time, many years ago, Yondu had no such foresight into what a loyal companion he was about to obtain, and instead was standing in the middle of that busy street, arms crossed, angrily glaring at the leader of all one-hundred of the Ravager factions.

“This,” Stakar Ogord said while he slapped the back of the tall gangly man standing beside him in introduction, “Is Kraglin Obfonteri - and I only hope you are willing to welcome him into your crew.”

Yondu rolled the toothpick in his mouth as he eyed the proffered man up and down, moving his hands down onto his hips and entirely unhappy with the situation.

He spat out the pick at the thin man’s feet in disgust and glowered at his old commander.

“Why in the blue-hell would I want to pick up somebody like this?” Yondu gestured at the leather-clad young man as he glared at Stakar. “I thought I was the one who made the decisions of who was in my crew, and who _ain’t_.”

Stakar didn’t look bothered by Yondu’s distaste for the situation - probably knew he’d be hateful of it, the bastard - and just rolled his eyes.

“Because I’ve heard you’ve been flying without a first-mate for some time now, Yondu. How long has it been now since the last one died?”

Yondu shook his head, chuckling slightly. Of all the audacity...

“Haven’t found anyone I liked the looks of,” Yondu idly replied after a moment, picking his teeth with his pinky to display his obvious distaste for this whole event. “Ever since the las’ one got his head blown off - I’m gettin’ real picky about who _I_ choose.” He hoped Stakar got the implication and would fuck off.

Sadly Stakar didn’t want to fuck off - he leveled Yondu a ‘don’t argue with me’ stare. “Take him, Yondu.”

Yondu spat into the dirt again. “Hell fucking no.”

“I am not making you make him your first mate-” Stakar insisted, “-but at least take him onto your crew - he’ll be an asset.”

But the intention was obvious that Stakar _wanted_ Yondu to _make_ this man his first-mate eventually.

Yondu avoided looking at this ‘Kraglin’ and kept his eyes strictly on Stakar. “Why don’t _you_ take ‘im? If you’re so enamoured?”

“Because I have plenty of crew members to worry about - and his skills will be an asset to _your_ crew.”

“Shit, I ain’t your fuckin’ babysitter. If you got a problem crew-member, then you fuckin’ deal wit him yourself.”

Yondu then glanced at this Kraglin, who had been eerily silent the entire conversation, as if he hadn’t been listening, or hadn’t _cared_ they were talking about him.

Creepy.

Yondu glanced back at Stakar. “Jus’ admit you’re offloading a problem on’ta me and quit with this crew-member and first-mate business.”

“Yondu. Please.”

“Oh ho ho,” Yondu laughed. “Now yer askin’ all pretty-like. Must be a real issue for you-”

Stakar, probably done with Yondu’s shit, grabbed him around the neck and pulled him down into a headlock.  

Honestly, Yondu was shocked he hadn't done so before.  He was getting tired of saying 'no' over and over with no resolution.

Stakar hissed in his ear, _“Look_ , Yondu, I know you’ve been a captain for a while now, but don’t forget who’s in charge here.”

Yondu grit his teeth.

Stakar’s voice lowered in tone and dangerousness, “You will take Kraglin, and you _will like it_. If you don’t make him your first-mate, fine, _don’t_. But keep him. He’ll be good for you.”

Yondu barked a derisive laugh despite the fact he was in a painful head-lock. “Good for me!?”

“He’s a lot like you, Yondu.” Stakar simply said as he undid the hold and shoved Yondu away.

Yondu rubbed his neck idly, glowering, but he looked back at this Kraglin with renewed interest.

"Fine."

If he had no choice in the matter.

Yondu flicked back his coat and hooked his thumbs into his belt-line, scrutinizing the other - and acting as if he hadn’t literally been strong-armed into this whole mess.

This _Kraglin_ was tall, thin - looked like he barely ate a thing - and his face was devoid of much emotion. His eyes were a cold grey, and looked pretty damned unfeeling as he looked back at Yondu.

Clad in all-black leather from head to foot, the only inch of skin he was showing was his head. The Xandarian’s arms almost disappeared into the blackness of his outfit as they were crossed against his chest, gloved hands resting against biceps.

His eyes were heavily shadowed, and the tattoos across the back of his neck made him look more assassin than pirate mercenary.

Damn - he looked like a piece of work.

Looked like he ought to be on Aleta’s crew - not _his_.

“Your ex-wife didn’ wan’ him?” Yondu chanced, not looking away from Kraglin as he spoke to Stakar - knowing that it was probably a stupid comment to make.

He probably would get a smack for it - but he was feeling testy.

No smack came - because Stakar was gone.

Yondu swore loudly in Centaurian and in common, “That mother-fucking _asshole_.”

He glared at Kraglin, who stared back at him impassively.

“Great, _I’m stuck with your creepy ass_.”

Kraglin said nothing.

“I could jus’ leave you here,” Yondu idly remarked, looking everywhere but at the silent other. “But I figure Stakar would have a conniption-shit about it.”

Again, Kraglin said nothing.

“You’re a real piece of work, you know that? Standin’ there all silent-like, tryin’ to be a shadow. Don’t think I don’t know what you’re up to.”

He honestly _didn’t_ know what the man was up to - it was impossible to read him, and Yondu wasn’t comfortable with that.

Finally, a response. Well - sort of. The tall young man just shrugged impassively.

Yondu looked up at the sky, hands on his hips and wondered what he did in life to deserve this.

Oh.

That’s right; Yondu was a fucking asshole with a stick jammed so far up his ass he could taste it.

Yondu sighed, shaking his head, and he gestured.

“Come on then - we ain’t got all day - and you are gonna have a lot of work to do before y’ get even _close_ to gaining my attention - let alone my favour.”

Like that was ever going to happen.

 

* * *

 

Yondu didn’t even bother introducing Kraglin to the crew; he was upset that he had been forced to take someone on, and he wasn’t about to give Kraglin the privilege of a proper Ravager greeting.

“Here’s the down-low,” Yondu said as the lanky man followed him. “You are gunna do what I say, when I say it. You got that? No arguments. No whining. No _suggestions_. No questions. You got that?”

“Y’sir.”

Yondu was surprised - it was the first time that Yondu had heard his voice - he was almost convinced the man was a mute.

“Why lookie here, you got a voice-box hidden up in those black leathers, don’t chu?” Yondu stopped to turn and look at the man. “Well that’s jus’ fine, cause I dun’ wanna hear a _peep outta you_. So you can probably keep pretendin’ that you are.”

“Y’sir.”

Damn, the man’s voice was just as emotionless as his expression.

“Now I’m gonna only tell you the rules once,” Yondu said, stepping closer to the man, voice low and intimidating. “You are only here ‘cause Stakar was so goddamn _insistent_ that I take you.”

Kraglin just looked at him - damn he was unnerving as all hell.

Yondu continued. “So. If I tell you to jump - you jump exactly like I tell you to. If I tell you I want you to sleep in the corner of the engine room? Or not sleep at all? Then that is _exactly what you do_. You got that?”

“Y’sir.”

“ _Good_. Now since I haven’t taken to kindly to you being forced on my ship - I don’t feel like giving you our colours. Take it personal if you like, but know this now: I don’t give a _shit about you_. Let’s get that clear right now - and I’m going to do _everything_ in my power to get you off of my ship by your own goddamn volition. Is. That. Clear?”

“Y’sir.”

“God fucking damn you are as creepy talkin’ as you are standing before me.”

Again - Kraglin didn’t reply, he didn’t so much as twitch.

“Now. Here’s the breaks for today. You are going to have yourself a great ol’ time,” Yondu threw his arm over the taller man’s shoulder in a gesture that _looked_ friendly, but it was anything but. “You are gonna not look at me, or the crew, or get in our way. You are gonna go crawl yourself into the vents, and you are gonna go to the nastiest corners and clean that shit out. You got that?”

“Y’sir.”

“An’ I don’t feel like givin’ you a tour - so find what you need, and get that shit done. An’ don’t show yourself in front of me for the time being - unless I call ya. I don’t feel like _lookin’ at chu_.”

“Y’sir.”

“Get out of here.”

Kraglin looked at him, and Yondu almost - _almost_ \- saw him tilt his head curiously.

“I said _get_ ,” Yondu threatened.

Kraglin did a Ravager salute, then turned and walked off like he knew where he was going.

“... fucking hell...” Yondu clicked his tongue. “I need a goddamn drink.”

 

* * *

 

And a drink he found.

He say with most of his Ravager crew down in their mess-hall, straddling his chair as he took a swig of a foul acidic bitter liquid and recounted everything.

The drink sloshed thickly as he guffawed. “- An’ Stakar expected _me_ to take him on jus’ cause he said so!”

The men laughed loudly. “Didja take him?”

“Course I did,” Yondu said bitterly, slamming the bottle on the steel-wrought table. “I had no real goddamn choice, did I? But o’course I thought I’d leave him on the planet, you know, just to stick it to Ogard, but then I figured - why the hell not?”

“C’mon cap’n -” one man was about to complain.

Yondu thumped him over the back of the head. “Quit your bellyachin’. I only took ‘im ‘cause I think it’ll be fun to have him aboard. I’ll get him to do the nasty shit not even _you_ lot are willin’ to do.”

The men around him cheered and laughed.

“And to think,” Yondu continued to laugh, “That Stakar thought I’d take ‘im on as _first-mate_ ‘cause he said he was good or some goddamn shit like that!” Yondu pressed a thumb into his chest. “ _I_ decide who is on my ship, and _I_ decide what they do. I don’t care if you’re the admiral of the whole Ravager fleet, you don’t undermine _my_ authority!”

The men cheered to that, and drank heartily.

Yondu didn’t even spare a passing thought to wherever that Kraglin was.

He only hoped he wasn’t going to see that Xandarian’s pale face any time soon.


	2. Won't Hit Back

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Something just ain't right with that Kraglin...

The next time that Yondu dealt with Kraglin was three days later when he had stormed into the hallways that lead to the main vent’s entrance.

There were reports of a violent scuffle there, and Yondu took it upon himself to break it up.

He had a feeling who was involved.

Yondu’s whistle parted the fighting combatants, and the tip of the Yaka arrow pressed dangerously against Kraglin’s temple, forcing him to let go of the man that he had in a tight grip with a curved knife pressed into his neck.

A thin trail of blood was trailing down from the impossibly-sharp knife-point.

Kraglin’s hands went up the moment the Yaka arrow flew into view, and the knife dropped, clattering to the ground. The lanky man winced as the arrow pressed so hard into his temple that a line of blue dribbled down the side of his face and dripped off the edge of his chin.

“What in the _ever-loving fuck_ is goin’ on here?” Yondu demanded at a near-shout.

His men were on the ground groaning, and the one that had been in a choke-hold was gasping for breath.

“He ain’t natural!” said one who had pressed himself against the wall, gasping for breath. He wiped his bloodied face sloppily with a sleeve. “Somethin’ ain’t fucking _right_ with him.”

Yondu couldn’t help but noticed that some of the men looked scared, glancing warily at where Kraglin was now kneeling in an attempt to escape the arrow pressing into his skull.

“Doesn’t _answer my question_ ,” Yondu seethed, and he stomped toward the kneeling man.

Yondu didn’t release the arrow, but instead he grabbed Kraglin roughly by the front of his coat and pulled him up to eye-level.

“What the _fuck_ are you doing, boy?” he snarled, shaking him.

The silver-eyed man just looked at him, lips pursed into a straight line, nostrils white.

Yondu half-expected for him to lash out at him; but nothing came his way.

“You ain’t gonna answer me? ‘cause you ain’t gonna like what I’m gonna do to you if you let me _assume what happened here_.”

“Captain he-”

“Shut up,” Yondu bit at the complaining Ravager. “You let all your asses get beat by this scrawny asshole. You don’t get to speak.” He looked back at Kraglin, “Well?”

Kraglin swallowed, and Yondu took tremendous delight in that, perhaps the man did feel a flicker of fear when he saw him. Good.

Because Yondu was pissed.

How dare he touch any member of his crew?

How dare he _win_?

“Well...? I _ain’t got all day.”_

The arrow pressed more with a slight trill, and Kraglin opened his mouth to speak, his breath revealing a wince of pain.

The lanky man’s voice was hoarse - like it was never used - “Cleanin’...”

“This doesn’t look like you was doin’ that. Looks more like you was in a fight. Try again.”

Though, if he looked at Kraglin - despite the massive bruise that was darkening one cheek - he _was_ covered head-to-toe in all manners of coloured grease and slime that were common in the vents.

Yondu shook him again. “ _Well_?” he demanded.

“... Attacked,” Kraglin worked out.

“So you gonna blame this on them?” Yondu sneered. “You gonna blame this whole situation on _them?_ Lemme get this straight, you sure you did nothing to provoke their ire? Nothing at all? See - I told them to _ignore you_ , so they weren’t comin’ here unless you _did something_.”

He glanced at the men, then back at Kraglin, continuing his tirade. “’cause they ain’t _stupid enough_ to not follow my orders.”

Kraglin swallowed again.

Aha. Guilty.

Yondu thrust him angrily to the floor. “You know what? I don’t care what you did.”

He chirped, and the arrow flew back into it’s holster at his waist.

“You boys dole whatever justice you deem necessary. I’m done with him for the day.”

The other men leered in glee.

“He was stealin’ food, captain,” one of the men offered. “We caught him in the larders and followed him here.”

Yondu slapped the other Ravager upside the head. “I didn’t ask you to fill me in.” But he did turn back to Kraglin who was idly touching the wound in his temple. “So you were hungry then? You felt perhaps you ought to not ask what you were supposed to do?”

He glanced, and saw the trampled remnants of food packets in the corner.

Kraglin stared up at him.

“I-”

“Shut it. Let this be a lesson that you do _nothing_ behind my back.” Yondu picked the knife off of the floor where Kraglin had discarded it. “An’ you especially don’t _steal from me_. Next time, use your goddamned head.”

He turned then, and just let the other Ravagers surround the other to deal with him.

There was a part of him - however small - that felt that somehow he was being perhaps a bit _too_ harsh. But that part of him was rather easily squashed when he remembered Stakar’s choke-hold and then subsequent leaving of him with _no_ choice but to take the man.

He ignored the sounds of the punishment behind him and continued toward the bridge.

 

* * *

 

Yondu sat down heavily in his captain’s chair with a sigh, rubbing his temple. “Goddamn creepy-ass bastard,” he muttered to himself, adjusting his seating and slumping back.

Tullk, the only member on the bridge at that moment, was the one to reply to his mutterings, “The new recruit, sir?”

Yondu sighed, “You got that right. More goddamn trouble than he’s worth - and he’s not even been here a week!”

“I heard he was caught in the larders.”

“So you heard about that before I did?”

“You had already gone to the vents to see what the commotion was when I found out, captain.”

“Right. Whatever. I taught him a thing or two, and just let the men deal wit it.”

Tullk was oddly silent at that, and Yondu turned in his seat to look at him. “What?”

“It’s nothing sir. He shouldn’t have been stealing from us.” Though the tone was clear that he was saying that only to pander to Yondu - there was something else, clearly.

“You’re damn right he shouldn’t have been -” Yondu said darkly, but added, “- however, I can’t help but hear you hoverin’ a ‘but-’, so get out wit it, I don’t have much goddamn patience,” Yondu implored, feeling that headache at his temples pound a little deeper.

There was only a short moment of silence as Tullk deliberated speaking - or perhaps was choosing his wording very carefully.

“He has been here for three days, and has been cleaning the vents like you ordered him to, and little else,” Tullk finally said. “Nobody has reported him doing anything but what you ordered - even figuring he sleeps in there - if he sleeps, that is.”

“... _So_?” Yondu sneered, ignoring a strange feeling boiling at the back of his mind.

Tullk got straight to the point, “Did you tell him where to get food if he was hungry?”

Yondu glowered. “You tryin’ to accuse me of something?”

“No sir! No. I was just... trying to figure out why he felt the need to steal the food... and not ask for it,” Tullk trailed.

Yondu continued to glare at Tullk, and he turned back to face the front in his captain’s chair. Thankfully, the other Ravager chose to not say anything further - clearly aware that he would be testing Yondu’s patience beyond its limits if he spoke again.

A memory of something Yondu said came flitting to his mind suddenly as he mulled angrily to himself; _“An’ don’t show yourself in front of me for the time being - unless I call ya. I don’t feel like lookin’ at chu.”_

Yondu chose to ignore it, and angrily pressed commands into the console instead.

 

* * *

 

He ignored his conversation with Tullk and the commotion near the vents until late the next day.

Yondu really did not want to deal with this shit - especially since he felt forced into it - but even trying to drown himself in spirits the night before did little to stave away the idle thoughts that had flickered in his head.

So he stalked down to the vents late that next night, sobered up, and shouted for Kraglin.

Yondu slammed his hand on the large vent grating several times, the booming echos reverberated down the endless piping.

“Kraglin! You better be fucking in there or I’m going to flay you piece-by-piece with my arrow! So git _your ass out here!_ ”

He heard shuffling echoing deep in the recesses of the ventilation shaft, and he stood there waiting, arms crossed, foot tapping.

It took some time for the man to emerge.

Yondu whistled.

“Ho _shit_ they took the mickey out of you yesterday, din’ they?”

Kraglin looked more bruise than man - his face was an assortment of blues and purple - his lip was split, and there was caked blood covering his ear and neck from the clotted wound at his temple.

He was sans his black leather jacket, and was wearing a thread-bare black shirt that looked like it lost its sleeves long ago.

Yondu glanced for a moment at a deep-looking white scar that trailed from somewhere on Kraglin’s shoulder and straight down to the edge of where his gloves met his wrist.

His arms too were a mess of recent bruises and cuts.

Yondu almost whistled again, because a deep scar like that was not often seen - even on a Ravager.

Kraglin said nothing to Yondu’s comment about him getting the shit beaten out of him - because, of course he didn’t.

“Not gunna say anythin’?” Yondu said, crossing his arms more and tilting his head. “Nothin’ at all?”

Kraglin just looked at him.

“You’re not gunna scream out ‘unfair’ I’m bein’? Or how you don’ deserve this?”

The man before him shook his head an imperceptible no.

Something about that one gesture caused something in Yondu’s core to freeze.

There was something just _not right_ with this man.

Yondu tried to push that feeling away before he could suss out it’s meaning, but it clung in his chest tightly.

“Why for the sake of a Celestials’ _tit_ did you shake your head no!?” Yondu instead spat, feeling anger rise in him for reasons unknown.

Kraglin took a step back as Yondu advanced.

“You should be screamin’ your head off! Tryin’ to attack me! You should be demandin’ to be taken off the ship! To be taken back to Stakar! Hell, you should be tryin’ to steal food again, ‘cause I know for goddamn sure you haven’t et anythin’ since you’ve been here!”

Kraglin just looked at him.

“You ain’t gunna do that?”

Again, the shake of the head.

“What the _blue fuck_!? Even my best and most loyal crew members would be balkin’ at this treatment! Even they would be tryin’ to steal what they can! And even _they_ woulda fought back even if the captain _did_ order someone to beat the ever-loving _shit_ outta them.”

Because Yondu knew when he saw those men return from doling out that punishment, they looked no worse for wear than when he had first seen them.

Kraglin just stared, and something in Yondu snapped and he slapped the man hard across the face.

Kraglin did nothing.

Nothing.

 _Nothing_.

The man just bit his lip, running his tongue against where a new split had formed, and looked back at him.

“ _Why didn’t you hit me back!?”_ Yondu yelled. “Do you have an _ounce_ of self-preservation in your thin-ass frame!? There’s something seriously wrong with you!” Yondu poked Kraglin’s head with a blue finger. “What the hell is going on in that creepy-ass head of yours!?”

Kraglin again, just looked at him.

Yondu snarled and he lashed out, instead kicking the metal wall behind Kraglin rather than the man himself.

Though he desperately wanted to - maybe that would set him off.

Yondu turned, flicking his coat back with his hands on his hips, and he glared at the floor for a good few moments to calm himself.

Everything this man did made him _so angry_.

He eventually turned, once he breathed some of the anger through - though it spiked again just _looking_ at Kraglin. “You. Come with me. Put on your jacket.”

Kraglin moved, and his silence was a blessing because he did so without question. He looped on the coat and zipped it up.

“Follow me,” Yondu snarled.

Kraglin did so, following like a silent shadow as Yondu stalked through the hallway.

Yondu turned a corner and led him straight into the mess-hall where there were already a number of the engineers taking their break for the day.

“Sit,” Yondu pushed Kraglin down in a chair at the mess hall, and he could feel the eyes of all the other Ravagers staring at them.

Yondu stalked across the room, grabbed some of their grosser-looking rolls of bread-like food, and then unceremoniously dumped them in front of Kraglin without bothering to get a plate.

He slammed down a container of smoky-looking water.

“You wanted food? Here’s _goddamned_ food.”

Kraglin looked almost confused as he stared at the food, then he looked up at Yondu.

“What the fuck are you looking at me for? You want me to force feed you? Or do you not like the looks of it? _Eat_ ,” he snarled.

Kraglin quickly picked up a roll and bit into it.

Yondu looked at all the other Ravagers, and shouted, “What the fuck all of you _looking at_?”

The other men quickly looked down to their own meals.

Yondu’s lip curled.

“Eat that, then I want you to report back to the vents the _moment_ you are done, you got that?”

Kraglin nodded, still chewing the first bite of the disgusting paste-like roll.

“Good.”

Before Yondu left, he slammed his hands down on the table and glared at him at eye-level, his hands on either side of Kraglin’s food.

He leaned forward. “An’ jus cause I am givin’ you the ability to get food in the mess, doesn’t mean I _like_ you, do you got that? I am _still_ going to make your life a living hell.”

And of course the man fucking nodded at that.

Yondu slammed his hands down again and stormed away before he punched something else.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Ahhh! I am so glad for the positive response to this. I didn't know wether or not people would be interested in an origin-story for Kraglin and Yondu's first meeting, and Kraglin's subsequent joining of the crew...
> 
> ... but here you all are!
> 
> Thank you so much for every kudos and comment - I'll try my best to answer all of them.
> 
> Thanks again!
> 
> And... sorry Kraggles - I ain't done wit chu yet...


	3. Back Alley

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A mission gone awry.
> 
> Warning: Blood and Violence in this chapter.

Yondu slunk down the back-alley of a long winding street of shops and stalls in the depths of a city. Tullk at once side, and Horuz on his other.

They moved as quick and as quiet as nobody thought men of their size could move, and their boots made nary a sound as they sped down the alleyway, their weapons raised - arrow floating beside Yondu’s head - ready for the attack.

Yondu kept the arrow afloat by the lowest and barest of whistles as they moved along their path; so low it was in tone that neither Tullk or Horuz could hear him.

This was a mission that had to go down with complete and total accuracy. There was no room for failure, everything had to be done to the letter, without a single percent of a mistake.

One wrong move in any direction - and it was all done.

The police on this particular planet were fast to respond, deadly efficient, and near militant in their training. This planet had a rule of ‘instant execution’ for any violent law-breaking, and ‘horrific beating’ and ‘life imprisonment’ for anything less.

It must have somehow worked for this particular population - for the crime-rate was so staggeringly low that it was nearly non-existent.

Which was great for them but _better_ for Yondu. Due to this inflated sense of security, the people here kept their expensive and important belongings nearly completely unguarded - they didn’t even have _locks on their doors_.

Hell, Yondu was sure that half these merchants didn’t even have a safe-box to keep their money in.

So, it was also a kind of stupid thrill for the Ravagers to get down to this planet to steal the populous’ crap when the stakes were so damn high.

The payday would be huge - but it would cost _them_ even more if anything went awry.

That was the thrill of it.

Yondu pressed his fingers to his lips and gestured to his men.

Tullk and Horuz nodded, and they tucked themselves down the side of the alley so Yondu could peek around the corner.

The street-stationed officers were standing right where they ought to be.

Yondu grinned and he felt his arrow hum beside him mimicking the thrill he felt.

Now, all they had to do was take the officers out before they could call backup. They would be free of the officer’s wrath, and then he and the Ravagers could have a hay-day and rob the entire fucking merchant-street blind. Already he had his men stationed behind various doors ready for the order to break in.

This would all go down within a mere matter of seconds if played right.

Yondu looked back at the two men, and gestured that he saw the targets, and soundlessly snapped, pointing - giving the order.

He got a nod, and the men slowly crept from out of the alleyway toward two of the the three officers.

Yondu trilled, the arrow shooting forth snapping through the skull of one man while Horuz and Tullk took down an officer each with deft punches to the throats.

Their bodies hit the ground silently.

Yondu grinned. “Tha’ was easy,” he said, “Not a huge loss-” he stepped out of the alley and kicked one of the dead men, “I heard they use their prisoners as forced officers after severe brain re-writin’... Kinda like flesh robots...”

These men were nobody’s family - there was no guilt in killing them.

There was a click at his temple, and Yondu froze.

“Your observation is most astute,” said a blank voice to his right. “We are reprogrammed - and we are efficient, and we were aware of your presence since you first landed on this planet.”

Yondu slowly put up his hands. “Well shit,” he chuckled slightly, “You sound like a computer.” He glanced over, and saw Tullk and Horuz also with guns aimed at their heads.

“We have located all of your faction -” said the large purple-silver skinned officer that was held the gun to his head, “- they all have officers ready to take them out. However - they have not committed any violent crimes. If you give up now, they will merely be subject to the lesser punishments. You will not - but they will be spared. Take comfort in that.”

“Righ’” Yondu nodded slowly. “Righ’... sure... an’ why do you think I wanna do that?”

“Because preservation of life is the utmost desire of most species. It is an excellent way to control a populous.”

“Damn son, ferget sounding like a computer, you sound like your mama _fucked_ a computer.”

Silence.

“You have no sense of humor,” Yondu sighed then chirped.

The officer went down and Yondu ducked before the gun could unload into his skull.

This gave time for Horuz and Tullk to escape the gunpoint of the other two officers for they had turned their attention to Yondu.

They were taken out easily with a blaster-shot each to the throat.

Yondu wasted no time in running back down from whence they came, calling into his communicator, Horuz and Tullk following tightly at this heels.

“Abort mission boys! They’re onto us!” a gunshot grazed his arm, “ _Shit!”_

They really _had_ been aware of their presence this whole time, and had been waiting for them to commit a single crime before they moved on them.

Shit shit _shit_.

Yondu trilled and his arrow flicked the corner to take out the one sniper that was on the roof firing at them.

“Cap’n!” Tullk huffed as he ran along side Yondu. “Where’s... where’s Kraglin?”

“ _-what?_ ”

“Where’s. _Kraglin_?” Tullk panted as they ran.

“Why the _fuck_ do I care? There are more important things to worry about than that skinny asshole rig’ now!”

Like the gunfire that just about took off his head!

Yondu and Tullk ducked as a chunk of wall was blasted away by that particular shot.

“He was followin’ us as ordered,” Tullk continued to pant as they ran, not getting the hint, “I haven’t - I haven’t seen him for a bit now! Do you think-”

“I don’t give a fuck! If he’s not on the ship with the rest of us-” Yondu grabbed Tullk and they slammed to the ground before a shot could take them _both_ out, “- then _he’s shit outta luck_.”

“But _sir-_ ”

Yondu rolled onto his feet. “Shutup! We have no time to chat about him!” Yondu yanked Tullk upright, and they continued their dash.

They turned a corner slammed bodily into a group of waiting men.

Before Yondu could trill, he was punched in the jaw and sent sprawling.

Stars and black blobs coated his vision as he muzzily tried to get back to his feet.

From the corner of his fuzzy vision, Yondu saw Tullk and Horuz somehow escape the officers and scramble off in opposite directions with a man each on their heels.

Leaving Yondu with the men that remained.

He was yanked up by one arm by a particularly bruising grip.

Yondu hissed, his vision coming back, and when it did, he saw one particular bruiser of a man holding his arrow between two hands... and he was _bending it_.

The Yaka arrow fizzled and popped dangerously - sparks flitting out of the end.

 _No!_ “ _Stop tha’_!’ Yondu cried out.

“It will not be useful to you in death,” the officer that held him by the arm said impassively. “You require no sentimental items there.”

Yondu snarled.

Finally, with a _‘pop’_ the arrow’s lights went out with a sputtering of sparks. It was dropped to the cold concrete.

A jolt of electricity sparked through his crest painfully and Yondu yelled, “ _You fucking assholes!”_ He yanked his arm out of the grip before he could be stopped and swung the man that broke his arrow.

His fist was deftly caught before it made contact.

“You fucking _asshole!_ That was my Yaka arrow! I ought to flay you piece-by- _GkkNN!!_ ” Yondu fell to his knees with a scream as his hand was _crushed_ by the force of the other’s grip.

“You will no longer resist,” the large man said without feeling.

Yondu’s vision was going white with pain, and it didn’t help that the broken arrow was sending feedback to his fin doubling onto him like a migraine.

“F-fucking...”

Where were his men?

Were the _fuck_ were his men!?

The grip on his hand stopped.

Yondu gasped, nearly falling forward; but he caught himself before he did so, cradling his injured hand to his body, as the large officer collapsed wordlessly to the ground.

... he appeared to be missing a part of his head.

A black leather-clad person stood before him, long knife drawn, syrup-like blood slowly dribbling off of the blade.

“ _Kraglin_!?” he was too stunned to say anything else.

Yondu forced himself up as Kraglin lept forward and impaled an officer thrice his size and undercut another with a deft swipe of his booted foot.

Attention turned now completely on Kraglin, Yondu was temporarily forgotten and that gave time for him to stagger over to where his arrow was, picking it up off of the cold concrete.

He turned it over in his hand. “Fucking _shit...”_

He could repair it - probably.

Yondu didn’t have long to think on it because his elbow was grabbed and he was being pulled forward into a run.

“Wh-!”

“Run.” It was Kraglin.

Yondu looked behind himself and realized that _every single_ one of those officers had met a rather gruesome death.

“Didja _behead_ one of them!?” Yondu spluttered, staggering as he ran.

Kraglin just looked forward, and he pulled Yondu closer to him, his arm hooking around Yondu’s middle to keep him steady.

Kraglin’s other arm was outstretched, gun at the ready, and taking out men left right and center.

They ran.

Kraglin tugged Yondu around corner after corner, and the gunfire rained down on them as more officers swarmed in like wasps on a carcass.

Kraglin shot as many as he could, but the blaster eventually overheated and was thrown at the head of another in a last ‘fuck you’ to the officers.

So they ran.

It felt like they were running for hours, and Yondu was slammed into the ground as Kraglin pushed him into a back-alley as a rain of blaster-fire covered them.

Yondu gasped for breath - it was a wonder none of the shots hit him - but was given no time for a breather or a thought as Kraglin was already on his own feet and tugging him up.

“ _Goddamn_ \- do you even need to _breathe!?”_ Yondu wheezed.

Kraglin pulled him around corner after corner, tucking into darker and more winding paths deeper and deeper into the city.

The gunfire eventually ebbed away into the background -

\- then it was just sounds on the wind -

\- then nothing.

It was only then that Kraglin stopped tugging Yondu and let go of him.

Yondu’s back slammed against a brick wall and he gasped for breath, breathing like he had never breathed before in his life. Even the rank back alley’s air felt sweet against his lungs with every pull of air he took.

He slid slowly onto his ass. “Holy _shit_.”

It was only when he felt his heart wasn’t about to explode and his lungs weren’t going to collapse that he looked at the other man.

Kraglin was breathing just as heavily as he was, and he was nearly flat-out on his back as he too was taking in breath after pained breath.

Yondu almost wanted to chuckle - because in that moment Kraglin looked practically like a normal goddamn person.

They stayed like that for some time - only the sounds of city traffic in the distance and the near complete blackness were their companions as they regained their composure.

Kraglin eventually pulled himself up, and Yondu instinctively stiffened when his grey gaze landed on him.

“Hurt?”

“....What?”

“... Are you hurt?”

Yondu blinked. That was the first time he had _ever_ heard the man string words together to form a coherent sentence. It nearly made him forget the question. “Jus’ my hand, an’ my jaw...” he answered because Kraglin’s grey gaze in the dark was so intent, “an’ a graze t’ the shoulder. Nothin’ serious. The medic can fix me just fine.”

Kraglin nodded, looking over his shoulder and squinting at nothing.

Yondu shifted, and surprised himself with his own question. “... You?”

Kraglin’s head snapped to his, and Yondu could dare to say that he almost looked surprised.

“What?”

“You. Are you hurt?”

Kraglin looked at him warily. “Not important,” he stated then continued to look back down the alleyway at seemingly nothing at all.

Slowly the black-clad man pushed himself onto his feet, staggering slightly, he looked down at Yondu. “We have to keep moving... they will be trying to find us.”

Goddamn, he was speaking more than Yondu ever thought he was capable of.

Yondu pulled himself to his feet - ignoring the hand proffered to him, using the wall instead.

“We have to get back to th’ ship,” Yondu said, rubbing his pained hand. Hopefully nothing was broken, but the bones had definitely been ground together. “We have’ta get back _now_ \- an’ check the rest o’ the crew an’-”

“- the others should have made it back safely.”

“An-... what?” Yondu rounded on him. “What? How do you know that?”

“I saw the snipers trained on them. I indicated it to them. They should be safe,” Kraglin reasoned.

“Oh.”

He felt the hand on his elbow again, tugging him forward.

“Ge’off me” Yondu yanked his arm away. “I can walk for my own damn self!”

“... Y’sir.”

And they were back to the single-word sentences.

“Jus’ cause you got me outta that situation doesn’t mean you suddenly get to order me around,” Yondu growled - begrudgingly glad that Kraglin _had_ been there. “You’re gunna follow _me_ , you got that?”

“Y’sir.”

“C’mon.”

 

* * *

 

Thankfully - and annoyingly - they had landed their pick-up ship deep in the brush of the forest that surrounded the city.

The trek from the alleys had been slow and long, and the trek through the brush was proving to take much longer.

Kraglin followed Yondu so silently during their navigation back that Yondu had to look back several times to be sure the ghost of a man was even there at all.

Each time he was met with a blank stare in the shadows and Yondu resisted a shudder.

Still a creepy fucker.

Thankfully, no more officers were seen - either they had been taken out by his men, or... they lost interest. Yondu doubted the latter very much, so he guessed that it just have been the former.

Still had to be careful though - just in case.

A crash of something hitting the leaves of the surrounding forest nearly sent Yondu jumping out of his blue skin.

He whirled, and didn’t see Kraglin.

Yondu was about to open his mouth to call for the man when he looked down and saw Kraglin shakily pushing himself up from where he was sprawled in the leaves.

“... What the fuck are you down there for?” Yondu stalked back toward him, and grabbed Kraglin from under one arm and yanked him upwards.

“Sorry... roots...” Kraglin said, but his voice was tight.

Yondu’s eyebrows furrowed, and for a second he forgot he didn’t like this man. “There’s no roots.”

He chanced flicking on a wrist-mounted light - they were close to the ship now, and would be safe -and he shone it at Kraglin.

Once he blinked away the initial blaze of actually seeing light, he gaze fell on the problem. “Aw... _shit_.”

One of Kraglin’s legs looked like it had taken a deep blaster-shot into the thigh and shin, the leather had been peeled back around each wound, and revealed a nasty deep injuries that shone brightly with blue-black blood in the light.

“Goddamn...”

“Turn the light off - there might be -”

“Shut up,” Yondu flicked off the light and it was his turn to grab the other around the waist.

How was Kraglin _walking?_ Yondu thought maybe it was a trick of the light, but he was _sure_ that he caught a glimpse of Kraglin’s shin-bone open to the air. Forget walking on it, how was Kraglin able to _run_ on it?

And when had he gotten the injury?

The last time they had been fired at was when Kraglin shoved them into the alleyway and-

Oh.

“C’mon,” Yondu said gruffly, pulling Kraglin along with him.

They made their final stretch to the pickup ship, and no a moment too soon, because Kraglin’s inhuman stamina and pain-avoidance was waning, and every step he took was slower and more sluggish.

By the time they got to the ship, Yondu was half-dragging him.

And like Kraglin had said, everybody had somehow made it safely aboard.

“Captain!” it was Tullk who dashed over first, along with a couple others.

Kraglin slumped in Yondu’s grip, sending lancing pain up Yondu’s arm from his crushed fist.

Tullk caught Kraglin before he collapsed onto the cold metal flooring.

Though Kraglin wasn’t unconscious, just breathing tightly through his teeth, face twitching with every obvious lance of pain

Tullk looked worried - another something Yondu didn’t expect - and was scrambling to find a way to bind the deep and sluggishly-bleeding wounds.

Yondu was right about the shin-bone.

Yondu wrenched his gaze away from Tullk and Kraglin and snapped, “Git us the _fuck_ outta here,” he cup his injured hand to his chest protectively, “It will be too goddamn soon if I ever see this godforsaken planet again.”

Yondu collapsed into one of the seats as the ship closed up and engines fired.

He spared a glance to the gasping form of Kraglin who looked more and more like a person than he ever did before.

Yondu looked away.

Goddamn.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Kraglin was out to kick ass and chew bubblegum.  
> ... but he's never heard of gum.
> 
> Whelp - this chapter was a BLAST TO WRITE.
> 
> And - OMG I GOT A FANART.  
> [CLICK HERE FOR AWESOMENESS](https://ilovekragdu.tumblr.com/image/161582443945)
> 
> Thank you SO MUCH IRAYA - Like you don't even know how happy it makes me. SO HAPPY. -makes incoherent noises-
> 
> And thank all of YOU for the WONDERFUL RESPONSES.  
> Like MY GOSH.  
> I will do my best to respond to all the comments... BECAUSE YOU'VE ALL BEEN SO LOVELY.
> 
> More to come soon.
> 
> ...
> 
> Sorry, again, Kraglin


	4. Explosive Decompression

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Well it ain't over just yet...

Shit.

They were under fire.

Because of _course_ they were.

The two vessels that immediately assaulted must have been laying in wait for them to emerge from the planet’s exosphere - because not a moment after the rear of their ship breached that line they were under fire.

Of course, com-link messages came along with the fire; insisting that they ‘desist in their escape,’ and that they, ‘must face do justice’ - which was death, mind.

They _should_ have expected this.

Yondu couldn’t believe how stupid he was in letting their breather and relief of escaping the pursuants on foot to think that somehow they were safe when in space.

This was a spacefaring race too, after all.

Yondu sent back a ‘fuck you’ over the link and immediately returned fire.

The only thing they could do now was return to the Eclector in one piece.

“Every body get to a gun - an’ I mean everybody!” Yondu yelled as he jumped over the back of the co-pilot’s seat and took control of the rear-turrets. “Even you, Kraglin!”

Men moved, and he caught Tullk scrambling to help Kraglin into a seat - the tall man’s leg bandaged roughly with thick scraps of fabric.

Their ship shook violently with every shot they took.

Shit. _Shit._

The other vessel’s weapons were powerful. Incredibly powerful. With each shot it seemed they took off a turret, a chunk of paneling, or scraped a long meteor-like gashes into the hull.

“ _Flark_ ,” Yondu hissed. “Focus on their guns!”

The thing was - it was almost impossible to hit their enemy. The two vessels were swerving, ducking and weaving just as much as they were. It was nearly impossible to aim a single shot that could be that damn accurate.

The pursuing ships had the added bloody bonus of being built for this - Yondu's drop-ship _didn't_.

A shot grazed their hull, rear-view sensor shattering, and before Yondu could swear profusely at his target being lost, another blast took out one of their directional engines.

Their ship dipped into an uncomfortable spin while their pilot stretched to gain control and compensate for the loss.

Yondu’s knuckles whitened on the armrests of his seat. No. No. No.

They were a sitting - spinning - duck in that position, and the enemy vessels definitely took that to their advantage as a hailstorm of fire blanketed them.

Finally - thank the Celestials above - they righted themselves, and shot forward, dipping the ship wildly to avoid another shot.

“Where the _hell_ is the Eclector!?” Yondu cried, “We could _really_ use backup righ’ now!”

“Jus’ about in firing range, sir, just need to get a little -” they swerved downward as another large bolt streaked toward them, taking out one of their ‘wings’. “- _closer_! Damn! They keep guidin’ us away from it!”

“We ain’t gunna get anywhere near close enough if we keep goin’ back the way we came! Aim for the Eclector! Thas’ priority!”

“But sir - they will have more chance to -”

“ _Jus’ do it_ ,” Yondu snarled as he set volleys of fire back at the enemy ships. “Everybody else?” he addressed to the men in the rest of their small ship. “Hold on fucking tight.”

The ships remaining thrusters fully engaged, shooting them forward.

The ship was hit directly from behind - men flew off of their feet, and their pilot’s face slammed hard into the console.

Smoke began to pile out from one corner of the shop as a deep cracking metal-whining groan coursed through the ship.

The lights powered out, and with the light, so went the gravity.

“Of _course_ they hit fucking gravity-aray...” Yondu griped under his breath, holding a firm grip onto his armrests to keep from floating off his seat.

Hooking his legs under his seat, he grabbed the the arm of the unconscious and bleeding pilot and yanked him back down into his seat, roughly strapping him in to keep him from floating away.

“The engines are out too,” Tullk called, looking over Kraglin’s shoulder, at the screen before him, body horizontal with his hands holding the back of his chair. “The readout says we’re at a standstill!”

“ _What_!?”

There wasn’t enough time to reply - another shot ripped a deep gouge into their armor-plating.

Yondu could hear the groans of their paper-thin hull.

He twisted in his seat, watching in mute horror as their ship’s interior twisted and buckled before them.

Everything was in slow motion as chaos reigned.

Kraglin was scrambling to find something better to hold onto, ravagers that were standing by where the hull was thinnest were turning slowly - not knowing they were looking at their intimidate deaths, -and Yondu was crying out for everyone to _hold on_ _to something_.

But it was too late.

Time ran again.

The buckling hull gave, ripping outwards like a gunshot to a tin-can, and those who weren’t holding onto anything were immediately sucked out of the ship.

“ _ **NO!”**_

Men screamed and shrieked as they were pulled from the ship into the vacuum of space. Others were scrabbling against metal, trying to grab onto wall, ceiling, the floor, _anything_.

Tullk’s fingers couldn’t keep hold on the thick metal backing of Kraglin’s chair, and he nearly succumbed to the vacuum if Kraglin hadn’t caught his wrist and _hauled_ him forward to a better hold.

Yondu was barely able to move, he was plastered to his own seat as the air screamed around his ears.

He pulled himself back around, and stretched for the control panel, his fingertips barely glancing against the buttons.

There had to be one generator that would still work -

Not that one...

Not that one either.

Damnit, the air was getting thin.

No...

Black was creeping at the edge of his vision, and he thought he heard Tullk screaming Kraglin’s name.

His hand slammed the console and suddenly the hurricane of air stopped like someone had flipped a switch.

Yondu was thrown forward into the console with the force of his own counter-measure to the hull-breech, and he swore loudly, spitting blood.

Silence.

No gunfire.

No explosions.

Nothing saved for the wheezed breathing of the men that remained on the vessel.

Eventually muted chuckles started to ring through the men as the adrenaline in their bodies buzzed against the reality of the situation.

Yondu pushed himself up, wiping his already battered chin and surveyed the damage.

He saw Kraglin on the floor, his hand tight around the the arm of another man who had his own grip on his companion - it looked like a second more and that man too would have been lost...

The three of them were laying there, breathing.

Yondu marveled at the sight before remembering that they had just been in the middle of a battle and turned to look at the screens.

Both attacking ships were gone - chased off by the Eclector's far superior fire-power.

Thank the stars.

Tullk was the first to speak. “Well. That was interestin’.”

Yondu stared at him, glad for the distraction and gestured wildly to the ship about him. “We was all about to _die_ ‘cause of explosive decompression an’ all you gotta say is that it was... _interestin!?_ ”

“Well... it sure wasn’t _fun_.”

Yondu shook his head, and he didn’t know if it was because of the near-death experience or the adrenaline or the relief, but he burst out laughing with the rest of their crew as the Eclector opened up their docks to take them in.

 

* * *

 

His mood was far more sour two hours after they had docked and the full reality of the situation had set in.

Yaka arrow broken, mission failed, several men _dead,_ others in the med-bay, drop-ship completely decimated - ...

... _Kraglin ..._

So Yondu was certainly _not_ in the mood to be listening to someone whine at him. As Tullk was exactly doing as he followed after him, “- he saved so many members of the _crew_ -” Tullk insisted, following Yondu.

“- _and_?”

“And?” Tullk balked. “He was doin’ it on a leg that nary had flesh left on it! He saved _three_ lives on tha’ ship! Mine included,” Tullk gestured to himself. “An’ you don’t even do him the _courtesy_ of -”

Yondu stopped, Tullk only just managing to stop before crashing into him.

“I don’ have _time_ fer that right now,” Yondu said, lip curling. “I only jus’ got outta the med-bay m’self. What do you want me to do, give him a medal?”

Tullk stared at him.

“ _Well?”_

“The colours,” Tullk said, voice set.

“... The... What?”

“The colours. Give him the colours,” Tullk was steadfast. “He deserves them - more than half of this lot.”

Yondu growled, “I ain’t giving nobody colours until I want to.”

“But _captain_ \- he saved your life too!”

“Shut it.” Yondu knew that. He was _more_ than aware of that.

He didn’t know why, but the more he was hearing about what Kraglin did, and the more he remembered it, the more _angry_ he was getting.

“But Captain-!”

“I said _shut it_.”

Tullk balked, “You are being a complete and utter _arse_ -”

Yondu grabbed Tullk by the collar and yanked him forward so they were nose-to-nose. “I don’t got the time nor the patience for this. You shut your trap or I throw you out inta the space whence Kraglin _wrenched you from_. You got that?”

Tullk swallowed, before nodding slowly - though Yondu couldn’t help but notice that the man still looked absolutely furious with him, however poorly hidden.

He let go.

“An’ I never said I wasn’t going to do _nothing_ about that creepy asshole, now did I?” It somehow made him feel better to insult Kraglin despite how Tullk bristled at that. “I jus’ have _more important things to do_ then hold his hand an’ cry at his bedside!”

Tullk opened his mouth to say something, but closed his mouth.

“Somethin’ to say?”

Tullk’s cheeks colouring in anger. “... No sir.”

“Good. Now _git_.”

Tullk stared at him, did a begrudging salute, and stalked off in the opposite direction.

Once Tullk was gone, and Yondu centered himself again, and wasted no time in returning to his quarters, locking the door and sitting down in front of his console.

He called Stakar.

Yondu drummed his fingers as he waited for the man to reply, memories of the past failed mission in his mind, and thousands of questions bubbling forth in a stream.

He needed goddamn _answers_ \- he had already waited too damn long to ask for them.

Finally, the imagine of the man appeared on the holo-screen; smug and certain-looking as always, the voice to match, _“Yondu, I’m surprise that you’ve called so -_ ” Stakar paused, eyebrow flying upwards, “ _... what the hell happened to you?”_

Yondu rolled his eyes. “Had a little bit o’ trouble with a mission.”

His former-captain snorted. _“A little bit of trouble, or a_ lot _of trouble?”_

Yondu smirked, snuffing air through his nose as he rest his cheek on his hand. “A lotta trouble. Let’s just say we thought we could pull a heist on Eradani Seven.”

Stakar let loose a low whistle. _“Yondu, you know that’s stupid; akin to telling the Sovereigness herself that she needs ‘to go fuck herself silver’ kinda stupid.”_

“Yeah, I know,” Yondu laughed hollowly, “- we almost did it though; but what’s a bit of explosive decompression to make your day a little more, say, excitin’?”

Stakar laughed but shook his head. _“You’re an insane bastard, Yondu.”_

“I know,” Yondu agreed, and he straightened, all pretense of a pleasant conversation washed from his face as fast as a light going out. “But let’s quit with the nice-talk - you and I have some damn talkin’ to do,” he implied darkly, leaning forward in his chair.

Stakar’s face too was washed of the pretense, he sat back, fingers bridging. _“I’d say I’m surprised - but I’m not.”_

“An’ you know exactly who this is about.”

“ _You’re still sore about that, aren’t you?”_

“I ain’t sore - I’m _pissed_. I wanna know just _what_ you forced me to take on here.”

“He _,” Stakar snapped, “is a Xandarian by the name of Kraglin Obfonteri - and you took him by your_ own _volition.”_

“Like hell I did - you left me wit’ him.”

“ _And you could have left him there knowing perfectly well I’d pick him up.”_

Yondu rolled his eyes. “Yeah yeah, tell yerself that if it makes you feel better. This isn’t abou’ tha’ I want to know who he is and _what the hell_ he is.”

“ _What did he do that has you so worked up?”_ Stakar was looking less and less amused as the seconds passed.

“Well fer starters, when we were on that godfersaken bust of a mission, he ran for a good hour or so on a leg that was _half blown apart_. Not a fuckin’ peep outta him. Not to mention him takin’ out officers with gunfire unlike I’ve ever witnessed.”

Not to mention the fact that Kraglin had been impaired by supporting Yondu and _running_.

Yondu expected Stakar to look smug and comment on how he had found Yondu a ‘talented man’ or some shit of that nature, not the concern face and immediate ask of, _“Is he alright?”_

Yondu controlled his surprise. “... I dunno. Haven’t checked. He passed out when we docked the ship. Tullk said somethin’ or other about how he managed to stop some o’ th’ crew from bein’ sucked outta the ship...”

He was being petulant now - he had bore witness to the obvious results of Kraglin’s heroics.

Stakar’s expression hardened. _“Yondu - have you checked on him?”_

“I haven’t had _the time_ ,” Yondu tried to say with boredom. “More important things to deal with right now. You know, like, _this conversation_.”

Stakar straightened slightly. _“What is it you want to know?”_

“I want to know where the hell you picked this guy up, where he’s from and _what the hell he is_. He ain’t no normal Xandarian, so you can stop blowing smoke up my ass abou’ that.”

Stakar bridged his fingers together in serious thought for a moment, that furrow never leaving his face. He took a breath. _“Fine. Yondu, I am going to tell you this, and I am only going to say this once -”_

“Yeah?”

“ _\- ask him your damn self.”_

The line cut.

Yondu stared at the screen, mouth hanging slightly open.

"That motherfucking _-_

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> First of all:  
>   
> I got more fanart! oOo!  
>   
> [THIS](https://arttofu.tumblr.com/image/161619925218) by [Art Tofu](https://arttofu.tumblr.com/)  
> And [THIS](https://ilovekragdu.tumblr.com/image/161624658085) by [Iraya](http://iraya.tumblr.com/)
> 
> Seriously - you guys spoil me so and are SO TALENTED.  Thank you SO MUCH.  
>   
> And also THANK YOU TO THE OVERWHELMING RESPONSE TO THE LAST CHAPTER.    
> I was seriously blown away!  
>   
> Thank you so much!  
>   
> I love you all, seriously!   I'll keep replying to all of your comments with love!


	5. Accommodations

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Addressing a few issues...

“Almost there...” Yondu said under his breath as he worked as carefully and delicately as possible. “Jus’... one more connection -”

His fingers lighty pressed the micro-thin tip of the soldering tool to two impossibly-small wires sealing them together as if they had never been apart.

His hands never wavered, his breath was so controlled it barely moved the smoke that gently wafted up from where he worked.

Yondu had to be absolutely calm for this - no emotions could jeopardize the steadiness of his hand, or the concentration of his mind.

This work was half head, half heart and all gut-feeling.

Though it wasn’t like he was hard-pressed into feeling this way; the small workroom served as a nice change to the rabble of his crew.

Especially now since the complete bust of a mission, the stress of dealing with a demoralized crew, the disastrous conversation with Stakar and the annoyance of having to figure out what they were going to do next and where they were going to go from there.

But here? Here Yondu was alone at his workbench, no noise, no stupid crew bothering him, no Kraglin, nothing. Just him and his Yaka arrow.

He turned the gold-tinted metal in his hands and carefully, very carefully clicked the tiny panel shut.

“There - tha’ should do it.”

Yondu was lucky that the damn thing could be fixed at all, and that it hadn’t been completely severed into two pieces. Instead it had been hanging together by literal wire, the outer-casing having taken most of the damage.

Yondu looked down the length of it, seeing no swaying, dents or buckles in the pristine surface.

 _Perfect_.

Now for the test.

Yondu laid the arrow carefully across his palm, and he blew a soft and gentle whistle. Slowly, ever so slowly, he lowered his hand.

The arrow didn’t lower with it, it hovered in the air as if suspended by wire.

Yondu felt whole again.

He trilled and the Yaka arrow slowly rotated as he admired it from all sides, glinting gently in the work-light, red light trailing after it like a ribbon.

Yondu hadn’t just _fixed_ it - he had _improved_ it; and in fixing it, he made a adjustments so that if his arrow ever _was_ snapped in half, it could be repaired.

He smiled at the glowing red instrument of death that gently bobbed in front of him as innocent as a hummingbird.

Yondu snatched it from the air before slipping it soundly into his holster.

“Much better.”

He felt like a massive weight of worry had been lifted off of his shoulders.

He couldn’t lie and say that it wasn’t one of the reasons why he had been so testy this past week since the incident on Eradandi Seven - but he could at least say it wasn’t the _only_ thing contributing to his foul mood.

Yondu had plenty more problems to deal with yet. One in particular was tall, dark, disturbingly talented, quiet and a bit creepy.

The other was the matter of his crew.

Yondu mulled to himself what he could do for their morale while he picked his jacket off of his fur-covered bed and looped it over his shoulders.

Was it too soon for a mission?

Or should he take them to a planet like Contraxia and give them a bit of a good time?

Or go to Knowhere and try to put out the tendrils in finding new recruits?

He was deep in thought with all this and more when he left his quarters and that was _exactly_ where one of his biggest problems was standing. Right outside his quarters. Arms crossed, leaning against the wall, laying in wait, being a creepy asshole.

Or perhaps Kraglin had just been calmly standing patiently for quite some time and the nearly fifteen heart-attacks that Yondu nearly had when he caught the man out of the corner of his eye skewed his perception.

He held his chest but managed to somehow contain his surprise. “ _Holy shit_.” Or not.

Kraglin was somewhat startled too - Yondu _had_ decided to kick his door open rather unceremoniously.

Yondu turned on Kraglin. “What in the name of all things holy are y’ doin’ lurkin’ outside my damn quarters?” he demanded, shutting the door behind him.

“Um...” Kraglin shifted.

Yondu put his hands on his hips, sizing Kraglin up. He took this moment to spare a quick glance at his legs, and noted that the black leather had been expertly repaired, and the man was standing straight as if nothing ailed him.

Yondu cleared his throat. “I don’ recall _asking_ to see you.”

In fact - now that he thought about it - Yondu was pretty sure he hadn’t seen Kraglin at all since the incident.

To say the least, Stakar’s last comment made him rather sour on the idea of approaching the other man.

He was becoming reminded of his ire.

“It was suggested that I talk to you.” Kraglin said simply, his voice impassive.

“Oh? By who?”

Kraglin paused for a moment. “Tullk.”

Yondu rolled his eyes, adjusted his stance while crossing his arms. “Oh now _really_. Jus’ what did Tullk tell _you_ to talk to _me_ about?”

Kraglin looked uncomfortable, and Yondu felt elated that Kraglin appeared to rather not be having this conversation at all.

Yondu grinned, feeling a sort of joy at Kraglin’s discomfort.

“What? Somethin’ got yer tongue? Ferget what it is you was supposed to say? Or did ya’ hit your world-limit for the day?” Yondu asked.

Kraglin shook his head. “He said - um - he said that I should talk to you about accommodations. Sir.”

Now _that_ Yondu didn’t expect.

“Accommodations? Fer _who_?”

“Ah - Um.” Kraglin shifted. “Me - sir.”

Yondu stared at Kraglin in confusion for several seconds, trying to understand. Why did _Tullk_ want _Kraglin_ to talk to _him_ about _Kraglin’s_ sleeping-arrangements. That didn’t make any -

Oh.

Kraglin wasn’t a part of the crew; so technically -

\- Technically he didn’t have any sleeping quarters. Not even a mat or cubby to call his own.

“You _still_ sleeping in the goddamn vents?” Yondu asked incredulously.

Kraglin nodded.

“You fucking with me?”

“No sir.”

“An’ Tullk told you to tell me this.”

“Yessir,” Kraglin confirmed. “Cap’n - I didn’t ask for him to -”

“Shut it.” Yondu cut him off - never thought he’d see the day where he’d have to cut Kraglin off, but there it was.

Kraglin did as asked, and stood silently.

After a long moment of thought Yondu heaved a growled sigh and swept past Kraglin. “Fer Celestial’s _sake_ \- do I gotta do everythin’ ‘round here?”

He stopped when he noticed Kraglin wasn’t following him.

“... Well _come on -_ you want a goddamn place to sleep, don’t ye? Unless you like sleepin’ on piles o’ space-shit every goddamn night.”

Again the question of why Kraglin never seemed to whine and complain was thrust back into the fore-front of his mind, and he had to push it back before that anger returned too.

He stalked through the halls - as he was wont to do - going straight to where he guessed Tullk would be.

He was right, of course, the man was tinkering away with exterior electronics of his own m-ship.

“Tullk!” Yondu barked.

Tullk jerked upright - nearly braining himself on an open hatch.

“Yes cap’n?” Tullk asked, at attention but also cooly.

Yondu was no goddamn idiot; he could tell that Tullk was more than a little angry at him, and his friendliness toward him had turned into a cool compliance. Where he was friendly before Tullk generally avoided him, and no longer offered teasing advice or a drink-mate in the mess hall.

“Yessir?” Tullk prompted again. Well, at least he still had the politeness to recognize who was in charge.

“Did I hear you right in tha’ you sent this bastard to my quarters to ask fer ‘accommodations’?”

“Yes, I did,” Tullk said without hesitation.

“An’ _why_ did’ja ask him do to tha’?”

“Because he can’t be sleeping in the damn vents!” Tullk immediately snapped, stepping forward.

“Uh huh - why?”

“Why? He may of had his leg put together again, but he still needs to sleep in a proper _bed_.” Tullk continued heatedly, unafraid to show his ire. “Vents can’t be good for him!”

“Righ... right...” Yondu calmly nodded as if he gave a shit, “I get that. But d’ya think that maybe if he _asked_ me before... I mighta done jus’ that?”

“Captain _you_ -”

“ _\- Maybe_ ,” Yondu emphasized, lip curling, “b’fore y’ get all up on yer high horse - and I know why you told him to tell me you sent ‘im - maybe you ought to use yer damned head?”

Tullk crossed his arms and said, cooly, “If ya offered him a place to sleep the night he _got here_ I wouldn’t _have to_.”

Yondu froze. _“Excuse_ me?”

“You heard me. You should’a offered him a place to sleep the moment he stepped on this ship. Jus’ cause you got a _stick up your ass_ because of Stakar, doesn’t mean you take it out on somebody else!”

Yondu stared at him for a good second or two.

The _fucking_ -

How _dare -_

Tullk had _no idea_ - _!_

Yondu snarled and grabbed Tullk by the collar yanking him so they were nose to nose.

Kraglin moved at the corner of Yondu’s vision and suddenly he remembered _why_ he went to Tullk in the first place. So instead of beating the ever-loving-shit out of Tullk for running his mouth about things he knew nothing about, he thrust the man away from himself.

Tullk looked relieved, but still angry.

Yondu took a breath, Kraglin relaxed.

Once Yondu had calmed himself, he adjusted his coat, and rounded back on Tullk. He said in a clear, smooth and cold voice, “Git yer things.”

The shade of white Tullk turned made Yondu want to smile. “What?”

Yondu leaned forward. “You heard me, I said: _Git yer things._ Don’ make me say it for a third time.”

“B-b-but sir!”

“Oh. An’ bring them here. You got... ten minutes. I’m not feeling generous.”

“ _Sir_ -”

“Shut up Kraglin.”

“... C-captain!”

“ _ **Git**_.”

Yondu took great satisfaction in Tullk scrambling away - terrified.

Yondu looked over at Kraglin, who was standing rather stalk-still at his side, though his grey eyes were watching Tullk leave with a kind of worry.

He also couldn’t help but notice the man’s hands clenching at his sides, and he only stopped when he realized that Yondu was looking at him.

“... creepy bastard,” Yondu muttered, crossing his arms to wait.

 

* * *

 

It took Tullk twelve minutes - Yondu counted - before he returned to them, panting heavily and holding all of his worldly possessions in a dufflebag over one shoulder.

“You got all o’ it?”

By this time, they had an audience. There had been other Ravagers witness to the argument between him and Tullk, and even more that were aware of the tension that had grown between the two men.

Of course, most sided with Yondu and were cheering on whatever punishment that he was going to dole out to Tullk.

“Yeah! Get that soft bastard!”

“The other guy’s a freak anyway! He don’t need nothing!”

“- Jus’ the same as space trash, we don’t wanna share wit’ him!”

Tullk grit his teeth, but looked more scared than anything else.

Yondu smirked, self-satisfied. “Well, y’ regrettin’ yer big mouth yet?”

Tullk glared.

The other men ‘ooo’ed at him mockingly and cackled between themselves. Tullk got a few not-too-friendly pats and shoves as they mocked him.

Yondu let it happen, before gesturing for them to stop.

“Righ’. That’s enough. Fuck off, all’a ya. Tullk, Kraglin - follow me.”

Taunts and chants from the other Ravagers followed after for as far as they could hear them.

Yondu reveled in the following terrified silence. This is exactly what Tullk deserved for running his goddamned mouth when he should have kept it shut. At least if he had a gripe with Yondu he should have spoken it in _private_ and not where anybody else could hear them.

He hoped that Tullk felt every damn step like it was a year.

Eventually, the man seemed to be catching onto their destination, and chanced speaking, “Captain... why are we heading back to the -” Yondu shut him up with a gesture of his hand.

They stopped in front of a door.

“Here we are,” Yondu announced.

“We’re in the wing where the crew quarters are, sir,” Tullk said dumbly.

“Yep.”

“Not the brig.”

“Nope.” Yondu pushed open the door with a creak, letting light into the small room.

The two other men were silent, exchanging confused glances.

“Well well, lookie here. Empty quarters. Sure looks like they’ve been empty for a while. Probably because their previous tenants died a bit ago, or most likely ‘cause it smells like shit and nobody knows why.”

Neither was true, it was just extra, unused, space.

Yondu grabbed both Kraglin and Tullk by the scruff of their necks and threw them forward into the room.

“Congratulations! You gotta roommate! I don’t envy ya’ ‘cause it’s this creepy asshole, but you know - since you were _so insistent_ that he get a bloody bunk, you can share this crap-stain with ‘im!”

Tullk looked back at Yondu, eyes wide in surprise. He started to babble, “I- wh- but _you_ -?”

Kraglin was rubbing the back of his neck, looking at Yondu curiously.

“What chu both lookin’ at me like that fer? I did this outta the goodness of my heart.” Yondu said with false-hurt, hand on his chest. “An’ this is the reaction I _git_?” he added dramatically.

“I-... _huh_?”

“Can’t say I never did anything nice, now can you?”

Tullk snapped out of his befuddlement and said, genuinely, “Thank you captain.”

Yondu scoffed, crossing his arms. “Yeah yeah. Whatever. Jus’ clean this shithole up. I won’t want y’ on my bridge if you smell like this place.”

“Yessir - we will, sir.”

Before the good-feeling could sink in too deeply, Yondu reached over Tullk’s shoulder and pulled him down into a very-painful-headlock.

“Oh, and one more thing? If you _ever_ run your fucking mouth in front of the crew like that _ever again_ , I will personally see that you are tied between two m-ships and _ripped apart._ I’ve had enough of your high-and-mighty bullshit,” he hissed in a deadly whisper. “Is.  That.  Clear _?”_

Tullk nodded.

“Good,” Yondu let go of him roughly. “Mind your own fucking business from now on. I mean it.”

Yondu glanced toward Kraglin - who was still silent - not liking the look he was being given. A was a thoughtful confused expression played on Kraglin’s face one that sent a strange feeling at the base of his stomach to mingle with all the other feelings of anger he felt when he saw the man.

He opened his mouth to ask Kraglin to come with him for a moment to talk, but instead; “What the fuck are you looking at?” came out.

Kraglin shook his head, and turned toward Tullk.

Yondu breathed out, watching the two of them for a second, before turning on his heel and leaving.

“Goddamned creepy-ass motherfucker gunna be the death of me,” he muttered to himself darkly.

His foul mood continued for the rest of that day.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> HOLY COW YOU GUYS.  
> Seriously.  
>  _You guys_
> 
> Every single comment has been amazing and has spurred me to keep writing this story with so much gusto like... _you don't even know_.
> 
>  
> 
> _THANK YOU SO MUCH_
> 
>  
> 
> As always - more to come very soon~ 
> 
> Maybe Yondu will one day be able to address all of this.  
> ... maybe.


	6. Matter of Morale

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Morale on the Eclector is at an all-time low-  
> -and there's a single target the Ravager crew are using to try to mitigate this...

Yondu was slouched back in his chair, fingertips running against his stubble, flicking through the names and descriptions of every Ravager-friendly settlement that was within a thirty-jump radius.

The morale of the ship was failing.

He was none-too-surprised, their failed mission had done it’s damage, and the cracks were beginning to show within his crew.

Yondu needed to fix this - and he needed to fix this fast.

Better crews had broken over lesser failures, so his crew was sturdier than most. He just needed to give them a place where they could work, fight and fuck out their aggression.

There was only the tiny little problem that they were far away from systems he knew well and trusted, and the jumps it would take for them to get to Knowhere or even Contraxia exceeded the three-hundreds. Yondu wanted to get planet-side sooner rather than later.

The men were going to _kill_ each other at this rate.

A dead crew was a useless crew - and it was a bitch to replace men.

So, like clockwork, his work was interrupted.

“Captain,” it was Horuz, “There’s been another fight.”

Yondu growled out a sigh before looking up from from the info-pad.

_Of course there was._

He put the pad down on the arm of his console before craning his neck toward Horuz. “Who was it this time?”

“Oblo, Narbilk, Tullk and -” Horuz listed, pausing for only half a second before continuing - Yondu knew whose name was coming up next anyway, “- ... Kraglin.”

Yondu looked up at the ceiling and sighed even louder. “What a _surprise_ ,” he announced sarcastically, “Why would Kraglin _ever_ be involved in a fight? What a mysterious turn of events! Do _please_ tell me that it ain’t true, Horuz. _Tell me it ain’t so_.”

“Sir...”

Yondu stood up from his chair. “Of _course_ Kraglin is involved. He’s somehow _always_ involved. If there’s a fight - assume he’s involved. Thas’ the new rule.”

He really rather not be dealing with this again.

“Third bloody time this week,” he muttered to himself. “Where are they?”

“The med-bay.”

“ _Because of course they are_ ,” Yondu threw his hands in the air. “How fucking stupid am I to think anything otherwise!?”

He swept past Horuz, leaving the bridge.

Horuz followed.

“It was broken up by Bleuthom and Syzyl,” Horuz continued to explain.

Yondu found this unsurprising, they were the two Ravagers that Kraglin had saved the lives of during that massive descompressive hull-breech.

“An’ _where_ did it happen?” He had an idea.

“Near the vents.”

“Of _course_ it did.” Yondu didn’t know if that made it better or worse.

If he was being completely honest with himself -though he didn’t _like_ Kraglin one bit - the animosity that the crew had been showing toward the man was getting to be a bit too much; even for him.

It had only grown in intensity over the past few weeks instead of ebb away like Yondu had expected it to.

He had thought, like Tullk, Kraglin had won the whole crew over with his heroics, and that their annoyance with him would at least come to a sort of distant-respect if nothing else.

Instead, the opposite had become true.

While yes, members like Bleuthom, Syzyl, Horuz and Tullk all seemed to like Kraglin - everybody else had Kraglin on their shit list.

They refused to associate with him, sit with him, or even acknowledge his presence whenever he was in the mess. He might as well not be present with all the attention they afforded him.

This Yondu could also understand - to a degree - but it was the constant attempts to _jump_ Kraglin that was trying Yondu’s nerves.

Again, he didn’t like the man, but he didn’t try to fucking jump him the moment he thought he had his back turned!

The only time that Kraglin ever seemed to be safe from the crews violent attempts to beat the shit out of him - and there were oh-so many attempts - was when he was in the presence of the four only Ravagers that liked his company.

Yondu grumbled to himself as he stalked down the hallways.

“There’s a simple solution to this -” Horuz started.

Yondu already knew where he was going with this, “Don’ wanna hear it.”

“But captain -”

“Nope.”

Horuz persisted, “It would make things easier for you,” Yondu could hear the invisible ‘and Kraglin’, “If he was subject to the same code as we are, then you could -”

“Nope,” Yondu cut him off again, “Not gunna - have a better idea. Wait outside.”

Yondu loudly slammed open the med-bay doors.

All the men looked up in various states of being startled - or in Kraglin’s case, not at all.

Narbilk was pressing something to a bloody eye, Oblo was laying on a bed having shards of glass picked out of his arm by a medic, Tullk was sitting on a chair by Kraglin’s bed holding a cloth to his nose, and Kraglin was sitting upright, feet on the floor, stitching his own arm silently.

Bleuthom and Syzyl were standing by Tullk and Kraglin, arms crossed and looking at Oblo and Narbilk with expressions that _dared_ them to come toward them.

“What the _fuck_ is going on here?” He tried his best to ignore the image of Kraglin so-quietly _stitching his own arm_. “We can’t go two bloody days without one of ye getting in a fight?” Yondu immediately demanded, situating himself in the center of the med-bay.

“That fucking _lunatic_ -” Oblo started first, pushing himself up so he could better see Yondu. “- You shoulda - he - _something is wrong with him_.”

Yondu waved that away. “Don’ care. I don’ care _what_ he did. I am sick an’ tired of you fuckin’ morons getting in’ta fights!”

“He was askin’ for it!” Narbilk growled deeply from where he was sitting. “What with how he slinks around like he knows better than us...”

“He weren’t askin’ for nothin’” Syzyl hissed. “He is mindin’ his own business - like you ought to be!”

Yondu shook his head, turning to Tullk and Kraglin.

Tullk pulled the cloth away from his bloody nose - it looked like whoever had punched him had failed to break it - “This has _got_ to stop, Captain.”

Yondu put his hands on his hips. “I agree.”

“Kraglin was just minding his own business when _these two, -_ Tullk snarled, giving accusatory looks to the others, “- decided to see if they could beat the shit outta him before he noticed.”

“ - Because he’s a fucking creep!” Oblo added as if it was necessary.

“You shut yer goddamned mouth!”

Yondu glanced over to Kraglin while the two men shouted at each other.

Kraglin was impassive, neutral and silent; it was almost as if the conversation about him was not happening at all - let alone _right in front of him_. Kraglin was just idly _stitching his own arm_.

Yondu resisted a shudder.

Creep.

“An’ did he notice?” Yondu finally asked, curious.

Tullk was in the middle of throwing something at Narbilk. “What?”

“Did he notice them when they tried to ‘sneak up on ‘im’?” Yondu clarified, tearing his gaze away from Kraglin and his bloody arm.

“Oh boy _did_ he,” Narbilk begrudgingly admitted.

“I was just around the corner when I heard the screaming,” Tullk added, “Bleuthom and Syzyl came not long after I did.”

“We came to th’ image of Kraglin pulling a knife out of his arm, Oblo screaming bloody murder laying on the floor like a big-ass baby, and Tullk decking Narbilk in the face,” Bleuthom explained, still eyeing the other two Ravagers darkly.

Oblo gestured with his glass-ridden arm, “He smashed a _mirror_ straight into my arm!”

“... An’ I care why?” Yondu replied coldly.

Oblo repeated with offense, “He _smashed a mirror into my arm_!”

“I heard you the first time; an’ all I gotta say is... _and_?” Yondu replied coldly. He continued, “Look, you got caught. It’s not my fault if you get caught. It also ain’t Kraglin’s fault. Yer just idiots. So tell me again why I should care?”

Oblo mouthed angrily - but no words came out.

Narbilk barked with upset, anger spurring on his voice rather than muting it. “He isn’t _crew_. How long are you going to let this intruder stay on our ship!?”

“He ain’t an intruder!” Tullk retorted, voice rising.

“Useless piece of shit then,” Narbilk said, his lip curling icily, “I don’t care what you call him!”

“We want him _off this ship_.” Oblo found his voice, “Nobody wants him here!”

Yondu noticed from the corner of his eye Kraglin look up from the stitching procedure.

Tullk stood. “Now listen here. You can’t just be going around dealing out justice to whoever you feel like it! There’s a code that we follow, and one of them rules is that ‘Ravagers don’t-”

“Doesn’t count!” Narbilk interrupted.

Syzyl bore his pointed teeth, “Yes it _does_ -”

“That don’t apply to somebody that ain’t a member of the crew,” Narbilk replied coolly.

“How can you _say that_ after what he did for this crew!?” Bleuthom snapped.

“Just because he saved your sorry goddamned ass doesn’t mean a damn thing. If you haven’t noticed - Captain ain’t given him the colours-” Narbilk said icely. “- Means he’s a _nobody_.”

Tullk jerked forward with a snarl, and Yondu pulled back his coat and lazily chirped before a fight could break out in front of him.

He let them run their mouths without him interrupting. Now it was _his turn._

The sound alone made all the men in the room freeze, and the fact it was making a lazy flip-flop in the air like he couldn’t decide on a target made all arguments between them instantly end.

Yondu cleared his throat, smirking at their terror.

“I think we all need to _cool it,_ first of all,” Yondu stated casually, his thumbs hooking comfortably through belt-loops. “Second of all, I think this whole business of jumpin’ Kraglin has got to end. _Now_.”

“Captain,” Tullk tested, surprised, “Does that mean you’re-”

“You _can’t!”_ Oblo blurted. “Yer not gunna-”

“No,” Yondu said flatly, shooting a glare at Oblo. “No I’m not doing that - but I am going to put down a _blanket rule.”_

The men waited.

“Nobody touches Kraglin, you hear me? Nobody.”

The offenders grumbled.

“I said,” he trilled, and the arrow wafted lazily toward them. “Do you _hear_ me? I don’ even wanna have you _imagine_ what it’s like to sneak up on him. I don’t even want to get a whiff of you _thinkin’_ about it.”

His arrow wheedled lazily closer to the men, who turned paler and paler. “ _Do. You. Hear. Me?_ ”

“ _Yessir_!”

Yondu crossed his arms in satisfaction. “Good. See, I’d rather not have him completely incapacitate the lot of you morons. I need _working_ hands for a job, you fucking idiots - not ones laying in the med-bay!”

“But _sir_ -”

“You do realize that he can probably turn you inside-out six-different-ways before you hit the ground, righ’?” Yondu said darkly, gesturing backward to Kraglin while looking straight to Oblo and Narbilk. “Like, how fucking _stupid_ are you?”

Oblo would have coloured more if his skin weren’t already Krylorian red, and Narbilk just looked angrier.

“So yeah. I’m putting up the ‘no touch’ rule for your own goddamned safety - not his.” Yondu straightened, and glanced at Kraglin.

Kraglin was staring at him, head tilted, eyes unreadable.

“What are you looking at?” Yondu surprised himself with his tone not being nearly as venomous as it usually was.

For all that Kraglin pissed him off, he couldn’t just keep ignoring the fact that time after time, Kraglin just couldn’t be put down in a fight.

He might not like him, but he could at least respect him.

... a little.

“Thank you, sir.”

Yondu froze. “What?”

Did Kraglin just...?

Kraglin’s expression changed imperceptibly as he repeated himself, “Thank you, cap’n.”

Damn - Kraglin sounded genuine.

Yondu straightened, clearing his throat, “Don’t thank me,” he grumbled, looking away from Kraglin, “I still don’t like you.”

He turned, trilled, his arrow shooting back into its case.

They all stood in silence for a good few moments.

“So are we done here?” Yondu asked.

“I think so, sir,” Tullk replied smugly.

“Good.”

Yondu gathered himself. “Tullk. Walk with me - we got somethin’ to discuss.” He turned to the doorway.

Tullk, bewildered, scrambled out of his chair to follow.

 

* * *

 

“List planets near here that are Ravager-friendly,” Yondu started the moment they were clear of the med-bay.

“... Sir?”

“I said - list planets near here. I need to know somewhere we can go planet-side.”

Tullk, likely not having expected _this,_ out of all things, was what Yondu wanted to ask him about, was completely confused. “I don’t understand.”

Yondu guided them toward the mess-hall, and pushed past a few men, grabbing them both bottles of liquor before handing one to Tullk.

“We need to go planet-side.” Yondu uncapped the bottle with his teeth, spitting out the cap. “I don’t care where - but it has to be Ravager-friendly.”

“Why?”

“ _Why_?” Yondu laughed incredulously. “You were just in a _fight_ , you should _know_ ‘why’. The crew is cracking at the seams, Tullk - we need to boost their morale or we’re going to be dealing with a lot worse than stitches or a smashed mirror to the arm.”

Yondu was thankful when he saw Tullk nod in consideration rather than turn this conversation into an argument about Kraglin.

Yondu didn’t feel he could deal with that right now.

“So you’re thinkin’ ‘Ravager vacation’?” Tullk asked while sitting down a metal bench. He uncapped his own drink with the end of a knife he produced from his pocket.

Yondu sat beside him. “Yeah. Something like that. They gotta let off steam - have a good time.”

“Relaxing good time, or exciting good time?”

Yondu smirked, “Relaxin’ for once. I feel that we haven’t done tha’ in some time, have we?”

“No sir,” Tullk agreed.

 

* * *

 

“Benglei-Ten.”

“That planet is fucking expensive,” Yondu immediately rejected. “Does it _look_ like we’re currently rolling in credits? I don’t care _how_ nice them bots they provide are.” He was trying to boost morale, not go bloody bankrupt.

“Benglei-Eight.”

“... Pick a different solar system.”

“But it’s _far_ cheaper -”

“I said no. Last time we went there, one of the men was cannibalized _alive_ \- and it _still_ cost me in the end.”

Yondu still remembered the awkward moment of not knowing whether to pay or shoot the patron of the establishment that catered to ‘different tastes’.

He ended up doing both.

Tullk grimaced, moving on. He flicked through lists of planets on a screen. “There’s Ithrottir, the Vaendis System, the Merkatu Asteroid Belt, Iloches III...”

Yondu turned in his seat. “What was that third one?”

“The Merkatu Asteroid Belt.”

“I heard o’ the other places, haven’t heard of that one.”

“It’s a series of near-planetoid sized asteroids linked together as one super commercial outpost. It orbits the Merkatu system - it’s twenty jumps from here.”

Yondu took the pad from Tullk’s hand and scanned over the information.

“It also is not known for being very ‘reputable’ - if you catch my drift, Captain.”

Yondu smiled to himself.

Oh... very nice.

“Thanks Tullk - that’ll do jus’ nicely.”

They stood, the drinks done and Yondu had what he wanted.

The sooner they got planet-side to let loose idle aggression and pent-up stress - the better.

Perhaps maybe it would stop Kraglin from being used as an outlet.

“Sir,” Tullk’s voice caught Yondu before he could turn away.

“Yeah?”

“It’s about Kraglin.”

Yondu rolled his eyes and started to walk away, but didn’t stop Tullk from following him. “What about ‘im?”

“What are you going to do about him?”

“I don’t know yet,” Yondu looked passively at the information on the pad in his hands as he walked to his quarters.

“He can’t stay in limbo like this, sir. It isn’t right.”

“An’ why is that?”

“It’s like you’re punishing him for something.”

Yondu paused in the hallway, feeling his hackles rise. He pushed it down, however, licking his lips. Tullk and him had only just managed to get their friendship back from the dregs where it had been before, and he wasn’t keen to lose it over Kraglin again.

“Why?” he said testily, “Worried for your _boyfriend?”_

Tullk stared at him.

Yondu stared back.

Tullk burst out laughing. “Sorry sir! He ain’t my type! A bit too tall fer me!”

Yondu snorted and he clapped Tullk on the shoulder in a semi-friendly manner. “Look, Tullk. I know what yer’ tryin’ to do, but I’m getting sick and tired of hearing about this.”

“But-”

“Please. Shut up about it fer once. I’ll deal with it... when I deal with it.”

Whenever that was.

He shoved Tullk and pushed him lightly with a boot. “Now get! I know tall, dark, an’ creepy is waitin’ for you probably in yer quarters. Why don’t you go pretty yerself up for him?”

“Fuck you, sir.” Tullk guffawed punching him in the arm again.

“Not if he gets to you first -”

“ _Captain!”_

Tullk and Yondu whirled to see Syzyl out of breath, panting. “Another... fight...”

Yondu wanted to groan. “Oh for _fucks sake_ -”

“It’s _ten_ against... one...” Syzyl breathed, his voice heavy with implication. “...Kraglin...”

Oh shit.

“ _Where!? Show me!_ ”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Bleuthom and Syzyl are just random Ravagers with random names that I made up.
> 
> I figure that for a ship the size that Yondu has, he has quite a few nameless Ravagers I can stick names to.
> 
> I have no idea what they are or who they are, but I imagine Bleuthom is maybe Xandarian and Syzyl is a reptilian-like thing. Maybe. WHO KNOWS!
> 
> AND ALSO OMG THANKS FOR ALL THE COMMENTS.  
> I LOVE YOU ALL  
> SERIOUSLY.
> 
> And sorry for the delay!  
> I rather that I didn't rush this out when I didn't have time to write it as well as I normally did... so I just waited until I had the time.
> 
> I want to do the best I can do for you - not half-ass it.
> 
> MORE TO COME SOON.
> 
> Dun dun dun.


	7. Right Side of the Chest

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Yondu sees the results of his inaction and hostility... Yondu learns the hard way.

They were lead to the hangar.

Why the fight was happening there of all places, Yondu had no idea, but he could hear the sounds of his men shouting obscenities ringing down the hall long before the reached the scene of the fight.

“- cap’n don’ want chu!”

“- nothin’ but a motherfuckin’ -”

“- think yer so tough -”

Kraglin and his aggressors were standing at the far end of one of the suspended platforms where multiple ships were docked. Kraglin’s face was bloodied, long blade and gun at the ready, a ring of men advancing slowly toward him.

There also were men laying on the ground, unconscious, dead, Yondu didn’t know - or care - though he was sure the one at Kraglin’s feet couldn’t be alive by how twisted he lay.

“ _ **Stop!”**_

A few of the men turned in shock, and even Kraglin looked up at the sound of Yondu’s voice echoing loudly in the large hangar.

Not all the men heeded his warning, however; and while some froze the moment Yondu came into view, others ignored the captain’s command and jumped.

Kraglin was _snatched_ forward, thick meaty fingers wrapping around his throat, and even from the distance Yondu was at, he could see thumbs pressing into his windpipe.

“ _Hey!”_

Yondu trilled - his arrow jumping to life out of his jacket - it bulleted forth as Yondu himself dashed down the metal pathway - but all it did was leave a streak of red light right where the aggressor’s head _used to be_.

Kraglin had grabbed the offending Ravager - despite the thumbs pressing into his throat - and pulled off an back flip that sent the man flying backwards into a docked ship directly behind Kraglin.

There was a resounding _slam_ and the man slid limply to the floor.

Kraglin staggered, hand on his throat, scooping his dropped weapons off of the floor.

Some of the men backed off in shock.

Others, however, looked more enraged.

“You-!”

“We should kill you fer that!”

Yondu and Tullk were directly in the fray now, Yondu grabbing one Ravager by the back of his coat to fling him backward, chirping with his arrow to stop the hand of another that was trying to shoot Kraglin in retaliation.

Tullk was decking one, and Kraglin expertly rolled away from another man’s attempt to stab him, shots fired to subdue his attacker.

“ _Stop!”_ Yondu growled again, pulling another man into a headlock. “Stop this righ’ now!”

Kraglin blocked a blaster-fire with his own pistol, and tried to get out of the hands of two men that slammed him to the ground.

“Stop!” Yondu cried again, trilling with warning.

He didn’t want to kill his men.

His arrow flickered between them, trying to subdue rather than badly injure or kill.

Kraglin elbowed one man in the face, getting out of the hold, and jammed his blade into the shoulder of the other before getting back onto his feet and dashing backward and away from them.

“I said fucking _stop_.”

So embroiled in whatever rage his men held toward Kraglin, Yondu’s shouts didn’t quell all of them, as a few made a few good attempts in shooting him, and one manged to get in a sharp knee to the stomach before Kraglin swiftly took them out in a blur of movement that Yondu couldn’t keep up with.

Yondu’s hesitation to kill and maim was his greatest mistake.

While Kraglin managed to elbow another man and kicked another the other so that they staggered away from him, a third came out of seemingly nowhere, giving Kraglin little time to pull back from a vicious upper-cut being sent to his jaw.

He didn’t entirely escape it - the Ravager’s bladed knuckle-duster _tore open_ the left side of Kraglin’ face with a violent splattering of blood.

Kraglin’s gun dropped as he clawed at his face crying in terrified pain like Yondu never thought he was capable of.

“ _Kraglin_!”

Kraglin was reeling in shock and pain, staggering backward.

“No!” Tullk cried.

Yondu’s arrow ran straight through the eye of the attacker.

As the man slumped to the floor in death, Kraglin tipped backwards over the edge of the rail before Yondu could realize what was happening, or Tullk could reach him.

Tullk’s fingers grazed empty air.

There was a resounding _slam_ as Kraglin hit whatever ship had been suspended below them, and another slam as his body slid off and hit the platform below.

“ _ **No!”**_

Yondu froze in horror.

There was no way he survived that.

As Tullk was running to the nearest ladder to get to where Kraglin had fallen, Yondu whirled on the men that were still standing.

“What-” his voice skipped as he boiled with fury. “What were- What- I- _WHAT_ -”

The sound of Kraglin’s cry of terrified pain and the sound of his body slamming into a ship replayed in his mind. He felt sick.

“Cap’n, we can explain-”

Yondu turned, his voice ice cold, _“Can you?”_

The Ravager took frightened steps backwards, hands raised in surrender. “We was tryin’... tryin to _fix_ -”

The arrow clipped straight through one of his hands and the man screamed, falling to his knees.

“Not good enough. _Not good enough_. Not _fucking good enough_!”

Men who had been brave before shirked back at Yondu’s tone.

“ _On yer knees. All of you_ ,” Yondu snarled.

“Sir we was only-”

He was silenced by the arrow slamming into the back of his knee, forcing him down.

“I said... _on yer knees_.”

The rest obeyed quickly.

“You fucking killed him.” Yondu hissed. “You _fucking killed him_.”

“We were trying to solve the problem!”

Yondu turned, whirling, looking at the Krylorian Ravager who _dare_ speak. It wasn’t Oblo - neither him or Narbilk seemed to be present - but a older Ravager who Yondu, until this point, thought was pretty damn level-headed.

“Oh? _Explain_.” Yondu demanded

The man winced as Yondu’s arrow pushed into his skull much in the same way that it had into Kraglin’s so-many-days beforehand.

“Y-you... you... didn’t want him here... sir,” the men licked his lips, hands raising further as if that would help his position any more. “So... we- we decided to solve- solve that problem.”

“ _Problem?_ ” Yondu stalked closer, the arrow pressed harder.

“Y-y... - _ohgod_ \- Yes! You obviously were- were... _forced_. Forced to take on Obfonteri - so we... _ngh_!”

The arrow skirted down to dig into his shoulder.

“I get the picture,” Yondu said coldly. “You thought you could kill ‘im and them fix me the problem.”

The man wheezed in pain, nodding, not daring to move his hands down.

“Well?” Yondu demanded to the room-at-large. “Is that it then!? Or is there any other fucking reason you decided to do this? Since I _seem to recall_ many of you not stopping when _I told you to_.”

“But you don’t want him here!” one man shouted.

Another rallied, “You have made it clear that you wanted to get rid of him!”

Yondu’s stomach twisted with ice and rage boiled over him like an inferno - his guilt fueling him like nothing else could.

That Ravager was silenced violently.

Any bravery or confidence the men had in their choices washed away immediately after that. Fear swept through those who remained on their knees.

Yondu looked at them all, breathing hard.

His fists clenched and un-clenched as he took the whole of situation in.

They had done this because they thought he would have wanted them to. They had done this because they thought all he wanted was for Kraglin to be off of this ship; because they thought he had no choice in the matter.

Some part of him knew - _knew -_ that this could happen, that it would come down to this; and that part of him now felt twisted with guilt as he realized that this was his fault.

It was his goddamned fault _._

Yondu let loose a ragged angry cry and his arrow shot off sharply and into one of the dead men that lay on the floor.

“Captain!”

It was Tullk, voice echoing up from down below wherever Kraglin’s body lay.

Yondu closed his eyes, sucking in a breath between clenched teeth. His arrow turned in the air and shot into the body of the dead Ravager again.

There was no way Kraglin survived that fall.

“How much of a mess is he!?” Yondu finally shouted back, daring his voice to keep even.

He waited for the grim news.

“He- He’s not-... Captain! He’s _alive._ I- I don’t know how, but he’s _breathing_!”

Yondu stilled.

_What?_

“He’s _alive!_ ”

“Holy shit,” Yondu couldn’t contain himself. “I’m coming down!”

Yondu dashed to the nearest ladder, his arrow zipping back into his holster at a sharp trill.

How in the _hell_ was Kraglin still alive!?

Syzyl - who had disappeared the moment he had lead them to the fight - chose this moment to return with Horuz and a team of others. Guns were immediately drawn and pointed to those who were on their knees.

Yondu had no time to thank him for the quick thinking for he was already down the first ladder and running towards the second, sliding down to the platform where Kraglin lay.

Tullk was at his side, hands bloody as he was pressed torn cloth into Kraglin’s profusely bleeding head-wound.

And Kraglin? Yondu couldn’t believe it. His chest was slowly moving up and down.

“God fucking damnit he’s still breathing!?” Yondu immediately marveled.

He looked up at the distance where Kraglin must have fallen from.

“How in the _fuck_ did he survive that!?”

“I think the ship broke his fall, sir,” Tullk explained without looking up. “If it weren’t there... he wouldn’t be in one piece, I think.”

“Fuck...”

Yondu scrubbed his face with his hand before he went down on the ground on the other side of Kraglin.

“Brow is completely torn open,” Tullk muttered as he pulled back the cloth to reveal the nasty wound. “Going to scar mighty nastily...”

“Badge of honor,” Yondu replied, beginning to unstrap some of leather fastenings to the front of Kraglin’s black jumpsuit so he could see the extent of the rest of his injuries. “Will wear it proudly - will bleed like a bitch though.”

“You’re telling me.”

“We gotta get him to the med-bay as soon as possible, no knowin’ what happened internally -”

“- Doesn’t look like he broke anything, sir.”

“Well thank the Celestials fer that small miracle,” Yondu replied.

“Captain _why_ -”

Yondu paused as he felt feeling the guilt swell in him again. “Later.”

“... Yessir.”

Yondu had just opened up the front of Kraglin’s jumpsuit to reveal pale flesh when Kraglin’s eyes snapped open.

Before they even knew what was going on, Tullk had been kicked backward as well as Yondu; crashing into the floor by the force of a double-kick that neither of them had been expecting.

Kraglin kicked up onto onto his feet, his breathing heavy, blood cascading down his face, hunched low with a knife produced from the inside of his sleeve.

“Sonofa _bitch_ ,” Yondu wheezed, half-winded.

Yondu rolled himself back onto his knees, rubbing his chest were a boot-print sized bruise was more-than-likley likely forming.

“What-” Yondu’s words died on his lips.

Kraglin wasn’t there - not really. For all that he was standing before them, knife drawn, staring and ready for a fight, he wasn’t _there_. The light in his eyes were both frantic and dull, his breathing was pitched and shallow, and he was looking around himself in a darting manner, breath hitching as if he expected something - or someone - to jump him.

“Woah- Kraglin-” Tullk said carefully, hands up in a gesture of peace.

Kraglin sucked in a breath, shaking slightly, he pointed the knife in his direction, his other hand open toward Yondu as if he was some wild beast he was trying to ward away.

Yondu slowly pushed himself to his feet, his hands mimicking Tullk’s gesture.

Kraglin made a low sound in his throat. It wasn’t a growl, more like a keening sound, and his eyes flashed as he focused on him.

Oh gods, Kraglin was _terrified_.

“Kraglin...” Yondu tested, and the knife was pointed at him with a trembling hand. “We ain’t gunna hurt ‘cha...”

Kraglin swallowed, his throat bobbing, his legs shaking, and the blood that poured off of his brow made his icey-blue eyes all the more frantic. The knife was intermittently pointed at Tullk and Yondu as he slowly backed up.

“C’mon... we came to stop th’ fightin’,” Yondu stepped forward slowly, hands still raised. “... We ain’t here to hurt cha’...” he tried to quell.

He wasn’t even sure that Kraglin would be able to understand him in this state - but he had to try.

Kraglin breathed, licking his lips, eyes flicking between him and Tullk. “Killed... Bleuthom...”

Was Bleuthom one of the men that had been strewn on the ground by Kraglin? Was he the dead body at Kraglin’s feet?

“Did you -?” Yondu started without thinking.

“No!” Kraglin cried. “No! I never- I tried... I... They-” his hand wavered, the knife lowering slightly.

“Okay- Okay-... it’s fine...”

“Nobody is dead!” Kraglin started up again, his voice wavering, “I killed nobody! _Nobody is dead_! I- I-”

“Okay! Okay! You killed nobody! I wasn’t gunna accuse you of nothin’!” Yondu took another step closer.

Yondu felt sick to his stomach with how familiar this was.

He could think back to his own memories. The days were he had been a battle-slave yanked away from the only ‘family’ he ever knew, surrounded and beaten, the terrified feeling that nobody was there for him and the animalistic nature to _protect himself_ swelling above all other thoughts.

That’s what Kraglin looked like, an animal backed into a corner - all options exhausted, nothing but fear keeping him alive.

It was something Yondu knew all too well.

“Come on...” Yondu glanced at Tullk who nodded back encouragingly. “We ain’t gunna hurt ‘cha...”

Kraglin shook, and Yondu just about had his hand over the blade of the knife so he could take it from Kraglin-

 _Bang_.

A baster-fire from above just missed Kraglin’s feet.

Kraglin yelped, jerking the knife forward, the blade just barely missing Yondu’s cheek.

No!

“ _Who did that!?”_ Yondu cried angrily.

He looked up to see who it was that fired - he could her a scuffle as the person pulled back - but he ought to have been paying attention because he was pushed to the floor.

It happened so damn fast he was shocked it happened in the first place. One moment he had been standing, looking upright, the next he was flat on his back - mind ringing as his head collided with the metal - staring up at Kraglin.

The knife was pressed into his throat.

Another shot rang out, hitting just beside Yondu’s head and Kraglin ducked down.

“Stop!” Yondu cried.

Another shot rang out in warning, just shooting above Kraglin’s head to try to get him to get off of their Captain. Kraglin wheezed, ducking down in fear and panic.

“Everybody _stop_!” Yondu cried.

Tullk froze in his movement to grab Kraglin, and Yondu could hear the staying of the guns above.

“Everybody just- just- ... Everybody just fucking _calm down_!” Yondu continued to shout, “That’s an order!”

“But sir-!” came from above.

“ _That’s an order_.”

Kraglin shook over him, the knife pressed against Yondu’s neck still held hard pressure; but Yondu couldn’t help but notice that it was the flat of the blade that was pressed into his flesh.

Even in this state, Kraglin wouldn’t intentionally hurt him back.

“Cap’n what is he-!” he heard from above.

“He ain’t hurting me! _Fuck off_! We can handle this.”

“But-”

“I said - _fuck off!”_

He turned his attention back to Kraglin.

Kraglin’s eyes were closed tightly, and Yondu only then noticed that the Xandarian’s blue blood was dripping off his chin and onto Yondu’s jacket as he trembled.

It made many of Yondu’s own memories push to the forefront of his mind.

Kraglin was locked into a state of absolute fear - and it needed to be broken.

Yondu had no clue what to do.

“... Kraglin...”

Kraglin winced, and gods, he choked on what sounded like a sob.

Yondu tested moving his hand, and when Kraglin didn’t jerk violently away- or flip the blade over dangerously - he took it to mean he could move.

Carefully, slowly, delicately, Yondu reached up and put his hand on Kraglin’s shoulder.

“You did good.”

Kraglin froze.

“You did real good,” Yondu continued, not knowing what to say, but he let himself talk. “Fucking amazing, really. You- You- managed to take on _my_ men. On yer own. Thas’ no easy feat.”

Kraglin breathed, listening.

“An’ you say you didn’t kill any o’ them? I wouldn’t have blamed you if you had,” Yondu continued. “I woulda killed them. I woulda gut them all if I were you.”

He wasn’t lying. He would have.

“You did good,” he repeated. “You can relax.”

Kraglin, however, stiffened as if bracing for deception.

Yondu deserved that.

“Yer safe.” Yondu promised, meaning every word. “Yer safe now.”

This was his fault.

If he hadn’t shown such hostility to Kraglin in front of the crew...

“I’m sorry,” Yondu said.

Kraglin let loose a breath, grey eyes opening again.

The press of metal against his neck loosened.

“There ya go... that’s it...” Yondu encouraged with some relief, “Jus’ put the knife down...”

Yondu used his other hand to gently push the arm off of him.

Kraglin’s face was pale, his breathing had ebbed which would look to be a good thing if it weren’t for the fact the wound on Kraglin’s head had mysteriously stopped bleeding...

The knife clattered to the ground as Kraglin sagged sideways off of him, unconscious.

Yondu rolled over and pushed the limp man over, pushing his fingertips into Kraglin’s bloody neck.

 _Fuck_.

Tullk hovered anxiously, “What-?”

“Heart fucking _stopped_!" Yondu cried, voice pitching, "It just gave out!”

Yondu kept his fingers pressed to Kraglin’s neck, searching desperately - but finding nothing.

“Shit shit shit shit.”

No not now.

Please not now.

Not when he-

Not when-

Yondu balled his fists together, straddled either side of Kraglin, raising his arms.

Left or right? Was the Xandarian heart on the left or right side of the chest.

“Right. It’s on the right.” Tullk hastily said - having read Yondu’s thoughts correctly.

Yondu slammed down on Kraglin’s chest.

“Don’ chu fucking die!”

Yondu pressed his fingers into his neck again.

“ _Fuck!_ ”

He raised his hands again, not knowing if this was the proper procedure or not; but he had to do _something_.

He slammed them down again, Tullk holding Kraglin’s head so that it wouldn’t bounce on the metal grating.

“Not now! Not fucking _now_!” Yondu cried when he felt for a pulse again, and nothing was found. “I _fucked up_. Don’t die when I just figured out _I fucked it all up_! Don’t be _that_ asshole!”

Yondu gave up on slamming his chest and instead pressed both of his palms into the pale flesh and pressed hard in a rhythmic fashion.

He counted as he did so, and ignored the feeling of a rib breaking under his ministrations.

“Don’t. Fucking. Die. You. _Asshole_.”

Kraglin jerked, his eyelids flickering.

Yondu rushed to find a pulse.

 _There_.

He sagged in relief.

“Fucking...” he muttered, rolling off of Kraglin and onto his back. “Holy _shit_... I don’t need this kinda day, you know? Way too excitin’ way too goddamn much... fucker...”

Yondu needed a minute - so he lay there and breathed, letting it all wash over him.

He lay there on the cold metal grating for several long seconds, forearm draped over his eyes as he listened to the sound of Kraglin’s breathing.

Yondu eventually sat up and stood once his own heart stopped beating so rapidly.

Tullk moved to pick Kraglin up.

“I got him.” Yondu interrupted.

Tullk paused. “Sir?”

“I. Got. Him.” He roughly pushed Tullk aside before carefully pulling Kraglin into a fireman’s lift.

“Sir I -”

“Tell Horuz,” Yondu cut him off, “That he has my authority to throw every single fucker in the brig that instigated this fight. I want everyone who was a part of this in the brig - do you understand me?”

“I - yes... but Kraglin -”

“I got Kraglin.”

“Sir-”

“I said _I got him._ ”

Tullk quickly saluted before scrambling to the ladder.

Yondu let loose a breath, adjusting his grip onto the man who hung limply over his shoulders.

He couldn’t find any words to placate the unconscious man, or promises that he could possibly make to somehow make this all better.

Yondu knew that the blame lay only with him.

He did, however, find himself saying one thing as he dashed to the med-bay with Kraglin on his back, “... Do you like the colour red?”

It was something.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> See folks, this is why inaction, arbitrary hostility, and avoidance of the obvious is a BAD THING.
> 
> But now Yondu is wise to his mistakes... 
> 
> ... so hopefully it isn't too late for him to try to fix this and maybe learn Kraglin's past.
> 
> Kraglin obviously ain't no normal Ravager.
> 
> AND ALSO:
> 
> THANKS AGAIN FOR ALL YOUR LOVELY COMMENTS.
> 
> ❤❤❤❤❤
> 
> Seriously you guys are all awesome. I love you all ❤


	8. Firm Promise

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Yondu starts to make amends...  
> ... and also someone else learns they aren't innocent in all of this either.

“ _... So what you’re telling me - in short -”_ Stakar said, his voice low through the comm-link, _“- is that you are a complete moron.”_

Yondu sighed, rolling his eyes and gesturing with the bottle of nondescript spirits in his hand. “Since I sorta _prefaced_ this whole thing by _sayin tha’,_ well fuckin’ spotted Stakar - you amaze me.”

Yondu was slightly sloshed but still completely coherent. He had downed enough spirits to numb most of his guilt he felt over the situation, and it gave him just enough emotional energy to buck-up and admit what happened to Stakar.

It didn’t help.

Stakar was glaring at him over the comm-link, but thankfully hadn’t shut it off in distaste.

“ _You have no idea what kind of idiot you are.”_

“I have a pretty good idea.” Yondu bitterly replied.

Stakar sighed, bridging his fingers together, and perhaps he was between assuring Yondu or chastising him further. Yondu didn’t want assurances, he deserved whatever Stakar could dish out.

“ _I clearly have made a grievous mistake.”_

Yondu looked up, surprised, that wasn’t exactly what he had expected. “What?”

“ _I should have never entrusted him to you.”_

Despite the spirits, Yondu’s blood ran cold because he could feel the deeper implication of that comment. “What?”

Chastisements he could take. But this-

“ _I should have never entrusted Kraglin to your command.”_ Stakar repeated, voice laced with dissapointment.

“Excuse - This was _not_ what I expected when I called -”

“ _What did you expect, Yondu? A slap on the wrist?”_

“No! But not you fucking implying-”

“ _You’re the one who made the mistakes here.”_

Yondu felt something in him snap and he stood angrily, slamming his hands on the console, bending forward so he was almost nose-to-nose with the holo-image. “Excuse-fucking-me!?”

“ _You just admitted it yourself, you handled this in every way completely wrong. You have spent the better part of the past few minutes describing_ every little thing _you have done wrong in rather great detail. So tell me, Yondu, why the hell should I think that I did something right in giving him to you?”_

The ice turned to fire in Yondu’s stomach.

“ _Gave_ him to me!?”

“ _That’s right - and that was a mistake.”_

Yondu breathed, pinching his nose for a moment to calm the flow of anger, but it didn’t quell. “Yeah you made a mistake.”

“ _Pardon?”_ Stakar clearly didn’t like his tone.

“You didn’t just make a mistake; you fucked up. You fucked up majorly. An’ it wasn’t ‘cause you gave him to me,” Yondu snarled.

“ _Excuse me?”_

“You _strong armed_ me inta’ takin’ him. You know full-well how I react to bein’ forced to do somethin’.”

“ _You wouldn’t have taken him any other way -”_

“You jus’ _assumed_ that.” Yondu snarled, “An’ get this; you forced me to take him, an’ gave me no choice when when you decided to just leave him behind.”

“ _Excuse me - it was the only way-”_

“Bullshit. I call fucking _bullshit_ ,” Yondu pointed angrily. “So you know what happened when you did tha’? You made me think I had to take him ‘cause you _made_ me, an’ I felt like ignorin’ whatever talents he had to _spite_ you.”

“ _That is hardly my fault-”_

“Oh it is too. I’m not sayin’ I’m perfect. I realized I fucked up and have issues. But you _know me_ , Stakar, you know how I react to things!”

Stakar glared at him. _“You never once made any attempt to -”_

Yondu slammed his hands down again. “Don’t chu dare say I never made any attempts to do something. ‘cause I did. Do you remember that call I made to you? When I asked you about him? Do ya?”

“ _I recall you being a belligerent idiot that had gotten Kraglin injured and also refused to be sure he was fine.”_

“Yeah but - I still came to you to ask abou’ him, didn’ I? An’ what did you do?” Yondu said darkly. “You shut me out an’ further made Kraglin feel like to me like some goddamned problem for me to shoulder rather than somthin’ I should’a been appreciatin’.”

“ _That’s not my-”_

Yondu ignored him. “For all that you wanted me to take him, youmade goddamned _sure_ that I’d hate his guts, didn’ you? You gave me nothing. Maybe coulda told me something? A little somethin’? Anythin’? But _no_. You didn’t.”

Stakar glared, and Yondu continued, “You also could’a maybe have, I dunno, done somethin’ to show off his talents? Get us to do a mission together? Maybe gave me aomeforwarnin’? But no. You didn’t do any of that. You just forced me to take him, an’ then you _refused_ to tell me anything about him,” Yondu hissed. “So tell me again why your mistake was _giving_ him to me rather than _forcing_ him on me and then washing your hands clean of it like you’re the fuckin’ good-guy here.”

Stakar glared, _“I don’t need to hear your goddamned_ excuses _-”_

“They ain’t excuses. I am not sayin’ I did anything right here, or I am the victim; now am I? I ain’t the victim, you ain’t the victim... _Kraglin is_.” Yondu hissed.

“ _Yondu_.” Stakar warned.

“- I ain’t finished - You know how I am an’ you did everything it seems that made me do everything wrong. I fucked up. I know tha’. I _majorly fucked up_. “ He pointed at the screen again. “But you fucked up too.”

Yondu and Stakar glared at each other over the comm-link’s holo-image.

“ _I’ll be taking him back,”_ Stakar said coldly.

“Like the _hell_ you will.”

“ _Excuse me?”_

“You ain’t takin’ him. If you’re stupid enough _strong-arm_ me inta takin’ him, then I don’t trust whatever fucking decisions you have in mind.”

“ _Yondu, you are going to hand him over.”_

“Like hell I am.”

“ _You can’t keep him.”_

“I ain’t ‘keeping’ nobody.”

“ _Kraglin will be returned to me and my crew immediately.”_

“Sorry,” Yondu said darkly. “I don’t deal men like _property_ ,” he hissed, feeling his anger rise.

Stakar paled, suddenly realizing the implication of his words. Yondu just felt absolute rage - suddenly realizing why he had been acting the way he had been, and feeling sicker because of it.

“Yondu I wasn’t -”

“I jus’ realized, ever since the damned start, you’ve been treatin’ Kraglin like _property_.”

Stakar paled a little. _“No. No Yondu that’s not - I wasn’t -”_

“Yes you _were_. Nothin’ about this was about Kraglin the _person_ now was it?” Yondu hissed. “You almost made me treat him like he was some goddamned useless piece of property. At least when I was an asshole to him, I was being an asshole to a _person.”_

“ _Yondu. Please.”_

“ _No_! You can’t ‘have’ him because there’s nothing to ‘have’. He’s going to stay on my goddamned ship. I’ve already got the colours made for him, and if you want him, then you are gunna have to convince him yourself. Like a _person_.”

“ _Yondu. I never intended-”_

“Doesn’t matter what you intended to do. It’s what you did. So you better realise your own mistakes like I have. So you can kindly go fuck yourself. I’m done talkin’ with you.”

Stakar’s anger had completely by this point into a kind of desperation. _“Yondu I wasn’t - I didn’t mean -”_

“Fuck you.” Yondu clicked off the comm-link.

Stakar’s pleading expression clicked off, and he turned the whole console off so Stakar couldn’t even call him back.

Yondu threw the bottle of spirits at the wall, not even bothering to watch it smash against it and slumped back into his seat, swiping at his face before rubbing his temple to ebb an on-coming headache.

....shit...

 

* * *

 

Yondu found himself in front of the med-bay after most of the spirits ebbed from his system - his body metabolized it rather fast, and had to keep a steady stream if he wanted any long-term effects.

He didn’t know why he was hesitating now, of all times, especially since he was the kind of person to just bull-horn his way through anything.

However, he was hesitating now.

Perhaps it was the hindsight in knowing now how majorly he fucked up, or maybe even the sick knowledge that he had been even a little aware of himself and didn’t stop it, or maybe it was the potential that he’d be given no chance to fix it at all, or maybe it was he felt foolish for worrying about some damn person so much when really - in the long run - wasn’t obligated to him.

Yondu felt he owed Kraglin something, at least.

A chance.

He only hoped that Kraglin would be willing to give _him_ one.

And if he didn’t? He’d take that swift kick to the teeth like he deserved and would let Kraglin forge whatever path he wanted.

The door opened suddenly just Yondu was going to test his resolve. Tullk jerked back surprise at seeing the captain lurking right outside the doorway with a look so sour it could curdle milk still in the teat.

“... Holy _shi_ -” Tullk put a hand on his chest. “I mean - cap’n,” he morphed the gesture into a salute.

Yondu just said, “How is he then?”

Tullk wasn’t too surprised by the question, “Kraglin? Not bad. Not nearly as bad as I thought he was. Especially what with the,” he made a gesture of his hand that was very reminiscent of doing chest-compressions.

Yondu felt his teeth grit together - and not out of anger.

“... Er. Sorry. He’s actually doing remarkably well? I don’t know the medical lingo, but you should go in and see him for yourself.”

“I could -”

“- but?”

Yondu pursed his lips. “... Maybe I shouldn’t.”

Tullk tilted his head. “You’re here now.”

“Yeah doesn’t mean I should see him.”

“Why not?”

Yondu looked up at the ceiling as if asking a god to give him strength. “Why not -? ‘cause I sort of am the asshole that got him in this position in the first place!”

“Well... yeah,” that affirmation stung Yondu hard, “But you still should see him.”

“Why? What good will that do?”

“Prove you’re not a complete asshole? Look, despite all that you... didn’t do... you haven’t been a _complete_ asshole to him this whole time.”

Yondu couldn’t believe this. “Excuse fucking me? Yes I have been -”

“Not _really_ ,” Tullk admitted. “You gave him the quarters with me.”

“That was a _punishment_ -”

“It wasn’t one and you know it,” Tullk interrupted cleanly. “And you put on a blanket rule of protection on him too. Look. I’m not saying you did everything right - hell, you fucked most of it up, captain. But you didn’t do everything _wrong_ either. You just gotta... make up for it.”

“Sure. _Right_.”

“An’ Kraglin’s pretty forgivin’.”

“You sure about that?”

“Pretty sure. I bunk with him.”

Then suddenly Yondu realized that Kraglin and Tullk must have had conversations. Spoke to each other. “Did he say anything about-”

Tullk held up his hand to stop him, shaking his head. “It’s better to ask him than me.”

Tullk’s shut-down felt more reasonable than Stakar’s had.

“... Fair enough.”

Tullk sidled out of the way of the door, passing Yondu. “I got to go and do some maintenance-work on one of the m-ships. You go in and talk to Kraglin.”

Yondu turned on the spot to look at Tullk as he passed him. “He’s awake!?”

“I told you he’s doing remarkably well, didn’t I?”

“Wait. Tullk-”

“Good luck, cap’n,” and with the Ravager-salute it was plain that Tullk was done talking and wanted Yondu to do the rest alone.

Yondu sighed before turning back to the doorway.

 

* * *

 

It took an hour before Yondu had gotten enough courage to visit Kraglin in the med-bay. After his encounter with Tullk, rather than bolstering him in his resolve, it had weakened it, and Yondu had decided instead to do a walk around the entirety of the Eclector to burn off his anxious energy.

Once he was at the med-bay doors again, it took all of his willpower to not stomp off and do the walk-around again.

Yondu stiffly entered the med-bay.

The medic was no where to be seen, though he could see the light from under the ‘office’ door and sounds of typing from inside so clearly the man was working.

And across the room? In a bed. Alone.

Kraglin.

He looked to be asleep, rolled over onto his side, back facing the doorway. The sheets were rumpled around him, revealing pale, pale flesh and a stark-white bandage wrapped around his chest.

Right. Broken ribs. That whole... ‘heart stopping’ thing...

Yondu carefully approached.

Kraglin’s breathing was even, the monitor hooked up to him was silent but showed a good heartbeat. Well, Yondu assumed it was a good heartbeat for a Xandarian. The medic didn’t seem particularly concerned, he wasn’t in the room after all, so why should he?

Yondu quietly pulled the chair at the bedside - Tullk’s perhaps - and sat down in it.

Kraglin, as it turned out, wasn’t asleep.

The moment Yondu sat, the man’s breath changed and he turned, sitting partially up.

“Tullk...?” Kraglin froze.

Yondu felt suddenly very, very out of place.

“... Er. No,” Yondu awkwardly said. “I ain’t him.... Obviously.”

Kraglin’s expression had gone from open to closed instantly, but his grey-blue eyes looked at him curiously.

Yondu shifted in the chair. “Look. We need to talk.”

Kraglin looked hesitant, and he sat up fuller, the sheets slipping of off him and for a moment Yondu forgot why he was there.

Beyond the bandages were deep horrific looking scars. They stretched across his torso, over his shoulders, some plainly wrapped around his back, and others appeared to be connected to ones that winded down his arms -

“Yes cap’n?”

Yondu snapped out of it, he cleared his throat, tearing his eyes away from the scars and to Kraglin’s face.

Yondu wanted to ask, ‘ _What the hell happened to you?’_ but instead he started, “About what happened... in the hangar.”

Yondu hated himself more when Kraglin stiffened. It was natural, of course. To Kraglin, Yondu must have appeared as an arbitrary lunatic that had no rhyme or reason when it came to him. One day ignoring him, the other being vaguely nice, and the next -

Yondu took a breath. “It was my fault.”

At that, Kraglin’s face fell from his mask to an expression of mute surprise. “... Sir?”

“It’s my fault. All of this,” Yondu sighed, waving his hand in the air before leaning forward crossing his arms on his legs. “This is my responsibility.”

Kraglin blinked, and Yondu could almost hear the confused gears reeling in his head. “I-?”

“If I didn’t acknowledge you from heckin' start... then _none_ of this would’a happened. None of this. Even though I was a fucking idiot in the beginning, at least on that planet when you had gotten me outta that sticky situation... I should’a fixed my goddamned ego then.”

“Sir...”

“Kraglin. You saved my life. You saved the lives of members of my crew,” Yondu said, feeling is temper toward himself rise, so his voice pitched with it. “An how did I repay you? By continuing to ostracize you! I might as well have painted a target on your back!”

Kraglin tried to speak again, “Cap’n, you ain’t the one that attacked -”

“I _as good as_ ,” Yondu snarled. “I as good as. I knew that the crew was gettin’ less friendly with you, and I pretty much did nothin’. What was they supposed to do?” he continued bitterly, “All that I kept showin’ was that you were some forced liability an’ that I didn’t want you here. What else was they supposed to believe? They thought that I had no choice.”

“But-”

“I did have a choice. An’ I made the wrong goddamned one.”

Kraglin looked speechless, and when Yondu looked at him, for the first time he didn’t see some creepy asshole. He saw a young man looking back at him with a calculating but open gaze.

He also saw himself.

“If you will let me,” Yondu continued, swallowing and looking away from those eyes that betrayed more about himself than he cared to admit, “Let me try to fix some o’ this. I will give you your colours. You deserve them. I already got the tailor workin’ on them. If you’ll have them. You don’t have to take them if you don’t want to. It’s your choice.”

“My... choice...?” Kraglin said, voice sounding slightly raspy.

“Yeah,” Yondu replied, nodding his head. “Your goddamned choice. You don’t have to take it if you don’t wanna. You don’t even have to be a Ravager if you don’t wanna. S'all abou' what you wanna do.”

Kraglin looked like someone who had never been offered anything like that before in his life.

Perhaps that was the case.

Perhaps even with Stakar, Kraglin had never been given a damn choice. Just that thought made Yondu’s ire raise and he swallowed back his anger to remain as composed as possible as he looked at the stunned Kraglin.

“But I want you to stay. Not ‘cause I think I owe you anythin’ - because I will still fix my goddamn mistake even if you stay or not - but because you are are a goddamned asset and I was blind to never recognize that.”

“I...”

“It’s your choice.”

Kraglin swallowed, and Yondu saw more emotion in Kraglin’s face than he thought he’d ever see there. “My choice.” Kraglin repeated as if didn’t quite understand. It was plain he did, but what Yondu was offering was clearly confusing him. “I never...”

Fuck.

Yondu _knew_ it, and having it proved was like a spike to the chest. He rubbed his face with his hands, leaning back in his chair. ‘ _Fuck me... Godamnit Stakar..._ ’ he mumbled low enough so that Kraglin couldn’t hear.

He wasn’t here to lambaste Stakar in front of Kraglin. He was here to fix his own issues, not vilify another.

Yondu took a few more breaths before focusing back on Kraglin. He fixed his expression and stood, and he grabbed one of Kraglin’s hands in his own.

The grip he had between them was something like a grip between equals, a firm tight hold between hands, his fingers wrapping around the back of Kraglin’s hand. It was a promise.

“Your choice. On my word by the flames, as a Ravager, I will make this righ’ no matter what you choose. You are a free man. You do what you want.”

Kraglin stared at him, then at their gripped hands. He swallowed, then met Yondu’s eyes with a surprisingly firm look himself.

Kraglin’s fingers slowly returned the gesture. Yondu swallowed.

“I choose to stay then.”

Yondu kept his outward appearance serious, gripping the hand harder and nodding. He thumped his chest. “Then yer a Ravager under the flames, under my command, and the crew will know this and respect that. On my honour.”

Inside, he was feeling such a soup of emotions that he dare not look inward lest he break his outward appearance.

Kraglin mimicked the salute. “Yes _sir_.” And damnit, the Xandarian’s lips quirked upwards.

Yondu let go.

“We’ll be doin’ a lot more talkin’, you and I,” he said, pushing his hands into his pockets. “Like what we will do about those that attacked ya, an’ what your real duties will be, an’ maybe yer past... if you want to.” Yondu hoped he wasn’t going too far.

Kraglin nodded.

“But not now. You jus’... heal n’shit. The tailor will drop off yer new uniform. You don’ gotta wear it. But I figure it would be a nice change from...” he gestured to the folded outfit on the side-table, “All black.”

Kraglin chuckled.

He _chuckled_.

“Yessir, cap’n.”

Yondu smiled - and it was genuine. “Good.”

He didn’t linger to say goodbye, he just turned on his heel after that, and he heard the sound of Kraglin slowly laying back down on the bed, and perhaps a let loose breath.

Tullk was right.

Kraglin was forgiving -

\- and a much, much better man than he was.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Yondu sure is a sweary-McSwearerson in this chapter XD
> 
> As ALWAYS I am blown away by the sheer amazingness of the reception and the comments.
> 
> I will always make an effort to reply to each and every one, because each and every one spurs me on to write more and more.
> 
> And given that I will have far more time once more, more chapters can come out more quickly!
> 
> THANK YOU ALL SO MUCH AGAIN.
> 
> Thanks for all the kind words, speculations and general being awesome.
> 
> MORE TO COME SOON.
> 
> Love you all ❤


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